Blondie
by SeikoTuNeR
Summary: Tenten can never really get what she wants. Temari hasn't even figured out what she wants. And poor Naruto is thrown into the whole mess while trying to find his purpose in life. No one ever said living was easy.
1. Prologue Back to Konoha!

This is about 2 years after Naruto's departure with Jiraiya. So if you haven't seen to the "Sasuke's Betrayal" arc, you really shouldn't be trying to read fanfiction, or at least not this one. You should be snooping around for Naruto episodes or the manga itself. Its licensed now so good look trying to get it.

Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto. Pishaw.

"Blondie"

I'm not sure how it started. Hell I'm not even sure when it started. But it happened. I'm not exactly pleased. But then again, I'm not _displeased_ either. Lee, as fond of the little green bundle of _sunshine _that he is, he's not my type. Don't you dare say it's because I believe him to look strange. That's not it. I deeply admire his hard working attitude, his strength, but believe it or not..He's dull. Okay I know that sounds really stupid and ignorant since my other teammate is Neji, but he really is dull. All he ever talks about is training, Sakura, beating a genius, and did I already mention training?

Don't even get me started on Neji. If you think Neji is a silent calm collected warrior, you're as wrong as seeing your grandparents go at _it_ in your own bed. Don't ask. I already burned the sheets…

Back to Neji. He's not as quiet as you think. He's got one hell of a mouth. He has nothing against putting down others harshly. His sarcastic tongue has even made Gai-sensei bow his head in shame.

He'll pick you apart. Shredding you piece by piece.

Half of his battles he won through his mouth. That Byakugan of his even makes it easier for him to tear his opponent's ego to ribbons.

I'll admit it though. I did have a crush on him. Can you blame me? Top of the class, hansom, fiercely strong… In the beginning I went so far as deluding myself saying every harsh word from Neji to Lee was to spur Lee to work harder. I was such a fool. But he's mellowed out some. Ever since his fight with….

Naruto.

That short little blondie. Actually, he's not so short anymore. In fact, he's really tall. Really tall. Wait a minute. What the hell am I talking about? I haven't seen him in years. Damn fantasies.

Uzumaki Naruto.

Its so odd how his name just slides out of my mouth like I've known him for so long. Even though I have, but nothing more than a "Hello" and "How you are you" every few months. That does not really equal to knowing someone. Meh.

I think I first heard of his name nearing the end of my first year of a being a Genin. My team and Gai-sensei just came back from the forest after looking for a pendant some old fool dropped. Took a long, long time.

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"_Gai-Sensei!" _

"_Yes Lee!"_

"_Look!" He pointed to the Hokage Monument. "Somebody painted graffiti all over the Lord Hokage's faces? Who could be so irresponsible, who could be so reckles__**s **__who cold be so-"_

"_WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING, YOU IDIOT? GET DOWN FROM THERE AND GET BACK TO CLASS!" Some Chunin we didn't know yelled. Sounded really motherly though_

"_Whoever he is, he certainly has odd taste in clothes." Neji said sounding slightly amused, Byakugan activated staring in that general direction. "Orange jump suit, if I didn't know any better I'd say he was trying to get Gai-sensei's attention. Someone should tell him he's got __the wrong color." He finished in a sneer. _

_I suppressed a giggled. But not at what Neji said, but at what this stranger had done. It made the Monument so less boring looking. It wasn't that funny but when your old academy class didn't even have one comedian, and then teamed up with those three, looking at a blank piece of paper was fairly amusing_.

_The giggle turned into a laugh._

_The laugh multiplied. _

_Soon enough I was rolling around on the ground with tears coming out of my eyes._

_Gai-sensei had the **nerve** to look at **me** funny. I quickly recomposed myself and said, "I think I know who did that. Only one person could have done that…I think his name was Uzumaki Naruto." Gai-sensei visibly stiffened. "A few months ago somebody had poured water on almost every singly toilet paper in the public restrooms. Even the spares. Everybody was fuming and the name Uzumaki Naruto was whispered all over the place." I neglected to mention how everyone seem to really detest him for doing something so trivial, and even went as far as calling him a demon. I just thought he did stuff like that all the time._

"_Ah Uzumaki Naruto.." Gai-sensei started, "If you see him say hi to him every now and then. He's a good kid. Just a tad lonely."_

_Wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww_

The three of us never did heed his words. Lee, Neji, and I were walking to our team's meeting spot and passed by the academy. It was already after six pm for crying out loud, but Gai-sensei said it was important.

I didn't expect anyone to be there but when I first looked to the swing I saw someone, in orange on the swings all by himself. I felt like I knew the person but the name just couldn't pop up. From what I could see, he had blond spikes and was wearing a jumpsuit that was a mixture of orange, blue, and white.

Lee said something.

"Did you say something Lee?" I asked.

"No, never mind.."

"Hey guys do you recognize that person by the swings?" As I turned to look by the swings the person vanished.

"Tenten, what are you talking about? You must be seeing things." Neji, clearly annoyed.

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I met him again at the Chunin Exams. I didn't notice him. I couldn't help it. Sasuke-the-jerk-who-must-not-be-named was looking so cute, who the hell would notice him?

He did eventually get my attention. When we first walked right into the first exam room, Neji and Lee decided that going deep into the room with other foreign ninjas was a grand idea.

Those bastards nearly made me wet myself.

Like hell I was going to show that though.

That was when he yelled.

(1)"Listen up you bastards! I'm Uzumaki Naruto and I won't loose to ANY of you!"

I couldn't help but laugh, I felt weird being the only one laughing but relief washed over when I noticed a few other girls laughing as well. They must have been nervous being around other foreign shinobis as well.

He got my attention again during the written test. When I saw a large number of other people about to raise their hand and quit, he yelled again. His little speech gave those little spineless cowards a confidence boost and ended up having that …_woman_.. Complaining about how many students were still left.

I remember once believing Sasuke to be cute. In the Forest of Death, that got shot down to hell. Lee, as usual was an idiot and nearly got himself killed fighting those Sound guys. Before Neji had a chance to step in, Sasuke was glowing purple and had black tattoos all over his body. At first, I thought it was kinda fruity, until he went nuts. The way he attacked and disabled that loud mouthed Sound shinobi was horrifying. He even enjoyed it. If there's one thing I hate more, it's _anyone_ enjoying hurting other people. Its one thing to do your job, but you know you're going a bit overboard when you enjoy doing things like that. I then spotted Naruto on the ground unconscious. I had this weird squirmy jerk deep down, but I shook it off and left.

When Neji was fighting in the preliminaries.. Naruto…He stood out again defending someone be didn't even knew that well. Never remembered _anyone_, let alone Naruto defend Hinata. I thought it was sweet. Gai-sensei was over there crying muttering something about why couldn't Naruto have been on his team instead of Neji. Men.

Still, I was actually agreeing with him for once. Neji was so cruel in that fight… Poor Hinata..

Then there were the finals. I felt so sorry for him. Someone so spirited to get pitted up against Neji of all people. I felt guilty for helping Neji develop the Kaiten, but since I didn't know Naruto all that well I helped him anyway. Besides, I was still fairly infatuated with Neji at the time. But that gradually disappeared. I didn't even get a thank you for my help.

It was a little hard watching the fight. Naruto couldn't even lay a finger on him. I'm pretty sure everyone gasped when they figured out Naruto's clones weren't normal ones. They were solid. Hell, I was so jealous. That's supposed to be a kinjutsu! How could he have learned it? Anyway, I guessed Neji was getting bored with just pummeling him so he used his blood limit's specialty. After I saw him get into that stance I didn't pay much attention.

Just when I thought it was all over..So what I doubted? That wasn't the first time Neji did that. Everyone he did that to, they couldn't even stand, let alone fight. Naruto had done the impossible. He summoned chakra, bizarre chakra at that, even though Neji closed up his Tenkutsu points. I was baffled. I couldn't even ask Gai-sensei, the weird old coot wasn't ever around when I wanted him to be!

The shock and frustration was so much, I didn't even realize Naruto managed to heal all of his cuts and bruises.

Then he got fast. Real fast. I didn't even see a blur when he moved. I then spotted Naruto rushing Neji head on. I was thinking it was all over, getting knocked with one of his _Kaitens_ that close was a one-hit knockout. After the huge explosion, it looked like Neji won. I couldn't have been more wrong.

The ground seemed to just spit up something orange and you could barely make out Naruto knocking Neji in the chin. And won. With one hit! How unbelievable is that! After staring at them with my mouth hanging out for God knows how long, I was expecting Naruto to start rubbing it in. But..

Naruto didn't gloat. He didn't look at Neji with disgust, or trashed talk him while he was down. He just pranced around like a little kid, like he just got invited to a party or something.

Right there.

I fell for him right there.

I think. Emotions are difficult things to understand.

Maybe it was because of his strength? His dorky personality? He is rather funny. You don't see too many shinobi with a sense of humor now days.

They tend to get perverted. Or just plain twisted. Meh.

And as time grew on I grew subtly more obsessed with him. Okay maybe not obsessed, but definitely more attracted to the blond.

My greatest hero, Tsunade-sama, was brought back to Konoha to become Godaime. Rumor was it that Naruto had been traveling with Tsunade-sama's old teammate Jiraiya just to go look for her. I didn't believe it until I saw Naruto walking with him _and_ Tsunade-sama. She even looked fond of him, it was brief and disappeared as fast as it appeared, but I saw it.

All that did was make me yearn for him more. All those "Dead-last" remarks seem so stupid now.

Would a "dead-last" looser be traveling around with two sannin? Jiraiya was probably training him too. He was already strong.. Just how strong would he get with Jiraiya training him? Jiraiya was the one who taught Yondaime after all….

The next couple of days was a blur. Well, not really, I managed to befriend Shizune. That's a plus. Big plus. Still, it was really confusing that week.

Rumors.

Gossip.

The last Uchiha defected.

The demon's fault.

Just who the hell was the demon?

Uzumaki Naruto?

Lies…

He's not a demon…

Retrieval mission?

THAT BUM MADE CHUUNIN?

HE'S LEADING THE SQUAD?

Mission failed?

I learned all that in one day. It gave me a damn headache.

I was loitering around the gates when it was suddenly opened to admit Kakashi with something orange and red on his back.

My heart skipped a beat when I saw him. He looked dead to the world. The red I saw was blood all over him. With a feeble squeak, and berating myself for my Hinata-like behavior, I bolted to the hospital. I remembered Neji being brought here earlier so I thought I'd visit him, at least that was the _reason_ I told myself I was going there.

At the hospital, I spotted Shizune. She looked extremely tired. Slumped on the couch like that, you'd think someone told her that her mother died.

"Tired?" I asked softly. She wasn't exactly sleeping, but I think I could have gotten away with giving her the finger.

"To a certain extent, yes." She retorted, a bit snippy I might add.

She gestured her hand towards the empty seat besides her.

"Sit." She droned.

I didn't have the heart to say no, so I complied. I didn't know what to say, having not knowing her for long, but the silence was comfortable. Shizune turned towards me and was about to speak when Kakashi busted through the front door.

Shizune immediately stood up and ran over to Kakashi, who was talking to some nurse. I didn't want to seem rude so I stayed put. Kakashi must have said something rude since the nurse looked really annoyed. Shizune was eavesdropping on the conversation and looked like she was about to hit the nurse..

"What sort of nurse are you!" With that, she took Naruto from Kakashi and stormed off to the upper floor rooms. I tried to follow but that damn receptionist wouldn't allow it. But me being me, I simply placed a Genjutsu on myself to look like a doctor and walked passed her. She didn't even give me a second glance.

Great. Just great. I don't know what room he's in. I nodded to a few nurses and doctors until I spotted Shizune walking out of one of the rooms. I was just about to walk in when Tsunade and Sakura rounded a corner. I hadn't spoken to her yet, so you can't blame me since I was staring at her slack jawed. She noticed me staring but ignored me and went in. I'm pretty sure she saw through my genjutsu, but I guess she was too busy to care.

I checked Naruto's clipboard on his door read he was fine. I breathed a sigh of relief. Right when I dropped the disguise I bumped into Gai-sensei.

"Ah, Tenten. Visiting your teammates? If only those too fireballs could be as supportive as you." He sighed and walked off before I could even respond. I glanced at a clock and grimaced. It was well over 9:00pm. I found Neji's room simply enough, but the guy was asleep. With a yawn I decided to go home.

Regretted like hell the next day. It's the day..He..Left..

The next morning I vowed to at least speak to him. On second thought, I better visit my _own _teammates first since I didn't even talked to either of them yesterday. I remembered what room Neji was in so I just asked a nurse nearby to make sure he was in. I let myself in the door and stifled a gasp.

Neji never looks content, yet there he was, lying in the bed without a care in the world. He hasn't even noticed me yet! Or at least, it seemed like it..

"How are you?" I ventured, afraid I might take him out of one of his "rare" moments.

"My left part of my body is numb. They said it is an after effect of the healing seals they used." He still was looking rather content, and he still hasn't looked at me yet!

"Oh. Seen Lee around? Is he alright?"

"He went somewhere with Gai-sensei. He's doing fine as well." He finally looks at me, with a hint of a smile there as well. About bloody time, if you ask me. Rude to not look at someone when they're talking to you. I guess I can forgive that though, I have no idea what sort of fight he went through….

"How long are you gonna stay in here?"

"Hiashi-sama is supposed to pick me up soon."

I grinned. "Mister Top Rookie needs to be taken home by his uncle?" Neji flushed.

"No. Tenten," He hesitated, not exactly sure what to say next, "… I won't be with the team often this year."

"Hm? Why, what's wrong?"

"Nothing is wrong. Hiashi-sama is just taking me under his wing for a while."

"Oh. You're still going to do lame old missions with us, right?"

He changed positions so that he was sitting up and staring blankly at the window.

"I don't know_."_

"You make it seem so depressing. It's not as if you're going to leave the village or something." If he was, I vowed to kill him on spot. Leaving me alone with Gai-sensei and Lee. Grr..

"I may not be leaving, but someone I know is." He turns to look at me, with an annoying smirk stretched across his face. "Uzumaki, Naruto."

"He's WHAT!" I nearly fell over. Byakugan or no Byakugan I'm _so_ going to squeeze the life out of him if he's just jerkin' around.

He frowns. "I thought you knew? You still might be able to catch him.. before he leaves. He could still be at the gates.."

He might have said something else, but I was already out the door. Now that I think about it, it was in a small tiny way, funny. It took me three weeks later to realize that he knew I got over him _and _knew who was currently running in my brain.

While running, my traitorous mind kept telling me I was stupid. Chasing some guy who most likely doesn't even remember my name. _Neji seemed like a new person. You should still be all over him._ Stupid brain. There is no point in pining after someone with little to no feelings towards you anyway. It's just a waist of time. Besides, guys like Naruto were one in a million. By the time I got there I was too late. He's gone and for who knows how long.

I spent the rest of the day moping around with Lee and Gai-sensei. I didn't really show it, we're supposed to do that anyway, but it felt so weird giving a fake smile to everyone.. Working with Gai and Lee was cruel. Overly cruel. I had to drag myself home. I appreciated Neji's company hell of a lot more after that.

My parents left an official looking letter addressed to me on my table. I scanned it and there was supposed to be a meeting with Godaime next week. The letter didn't say what it was about.

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I arrived at the meeting early. There were a large number of people here. Most of the Genins, about half of the Chunin, and about a third of Jonin, and higher ups. I even saw some normal civilians.

I spotted Lee in the crowd and walked over to him. Who could miss him?

"Ah Tenten! Glorious morning, is it not?" Loud as usual. Its good to know some things never change.

"Yeah sure thing Lee.."

I didn't see Tsunade-sama around so I got bored rather quickly.

"Tenten, wake up! Hokage-sama is about to speak." Lee whispered.

I was instantly awake. When did I dose off?

"Good morning everyone. Lets get straight to the point, shall we? I know of the rumors spreading like wild fire, and quite honestly, it's irritating to hear them. As you all know, last week there was a retrieval mission for a defected shinobi. With experienced shinobi low, I was forced into sending a team consisting of a newly selected Chunin and four Genins. Though they were all handpicked."

She allowed the crowd to murmur a bit.

"In the last moment, Sand's peace offering arrived in the form of three of their top Genins. I sent them to aid them as well. Without their help, there is no doubt that we would have lost some of the village's most promising shinobi."

More murmuring.

She cleared her throat. "The defected ninja was none other than Uchiha Sasuke. He left with four sound nin escorts. Not Uzumaki, Naruto. Uzumaki was part of the team sent to retrieve him."

"That's ludicrous! This Uchiha is nothing like his brother! This one even saved us from Shukaku the Sand Demon during the Sand and Sound attack! Its that..that..Uzumaki! He must have done something to delude the Uchiha!" Yelled a Chunin, a large number of other people agreed with him.

I wanted to smack him. So rude.

There was a muffled scream. All eyes was on the disrespectful as the Chunin was choked to death by .._sand? _I gasped, Gaara?

ANBU looked ready to attack but Tsunade-sama waved them off.

Gaara was nonchalantly staring at the offending Chunin. Still as intimidating as ever. How the hell did I not notice him before? Looking at him, he was dressed pretty normal. White long sleeved shirt and black pants tucked at the ankles. His siblings held a look of disgust on their face. It wasn't directed at Gaara.

"Gaara, put him down." To be honest, Tsunade-sama didn't look mad at him. It's as if she forced herself to say that to him.

"Uchiha Sasuke cannot and did not defeat me." With that he calmly walked out, siblings in route.

Lee raised his hand. Tsunade-sama nodded towards him. "Hokage-sama, if Uchiha did not defeat Gaara, who did?"

"See for yourself. Complimentary of Jiraiya of course."

She pulled out a scroll, unraveled it, did a few hand seals, and suddenly a picture showed from the scroll. Almost like a projector. You could tell you were looking through a scope of some sort from the way the boundaries was set.

Everyone watched in silent horror as Gaara transformed into some sort of brown ugly _thing_. Everyone gasped when Sasuke, with those freakish black tattoos struck Gaara in his right shoulder with the Chidori and shake it off like it was a fly.

Just when it looked like Sasuke was done for, Sakura appeared which made Gaara distracted enough to get a fist slammed into him by Naruto.

Gaara swiped Naruto away and slammed Sakura into a tree. This seemed to really piss Naruto off. They were talking, but we couldn't hear. It was a tad frustrating.

I swear I saw the council, Kakashi, _and_ Tsunade-sama smile when Naruto poked Gaara in the ass with a kunai and literally blew his ass up when the explosive note went off. Neji smirked. What a second, when did Neji get here? Must have been when I dozed off..

"I'm glad I didn't take anyone hostage when I fought him." He chuckled.

Everyone who heard gave a nervous but genuine laugh.

Lee kept staring with his mouth wide open.

I kicked him in the shins. "Lee that's rude!" I pointed at his mouth. He complied.

Everyone else visibly cringed. Hell, I did too, that had to have hurt.

Gaara must have said something to piss Naruto off again. The Kage Bunshin was already an amazing feat already, but to have made THAT many was astonishing.

Despite the pounding those clones did, Gaara did the unthinkable.

He got huge.

Really huge.

The view changed and we were now all staring at someone's foot.

"Shit. I better go help." That someone said. Must have been Jiraiya.

"Heh..Maybe not…"

The perspective shifted again and we were all staring at a huge cloud of smoke.

There were a lot of gasps in the crowd. Wasn't all that surprising really. There aren't too many in the world that can call themselves a summoner. I was more than impressed to say the least.

Neji stiffened. "He was holding back.." He whispered. He took a deep breath. It must have been a major blow to his ego to go all at it at someone to not only get the shit beat out of you, but to know they weren't even using their full potential? Ouchies.

I saw Kakashi's eyes widened a bit. Why would one's own teacher be surprised of his own pupil?

Jiraiya said something again. "Sheesh. Gamabunta two times in a row."

There were startled gasps again. Wasn't it Gamabunta the toad boss that helped Yodaime defeat the Nine-Tails?

It was amazing to see the summoned toad battle it out with Gaara. What happened next I doubt anyone saw it coming. The toad transformed _into_ the Nine-Tails. I thought it was just a regular fox at first, but its hard to miss nine swaying tails. No one knew why until they saw it bite and dig into Gaara.

Naruto jumped off the transformed toad and gave Gaara a savage blow to the head that should have put him back into unconsciousness after waking him up, seeing what it did to Neji after all..

A head butt later, the scrolled sealed it self-back up and the lights were turned back on. Didn't even notice it was turned off in the first place.

"Now that we got that cleared up we can finally get down to business." Tsunade-sama stated smugly, then turning to glare at those idiots from before.

"As of today, Uchiha Sasuke is a traitor. He is to be treated like any other traitor of a village. If he is seen, do not attempt to engage with him unless you're certain you can take him. If not, just file the standard report for spotting them. On a side note, after reviewing other scrolls from Jiraiya, the council and I have come to a unanimous decision that Aburame Shino shall receive the rank of Chunin."

That came out of thin air.

"WHAT? But he DIDN'T even FIGHT anyone!" A kid whose name I can't remember roared. I did remember Naruto beating him in the preliminaries.

"As I stated before, Inuzuka, I have reviewed other scrolls recording his fight with Kankurou. They had a run in after Kakashi assigned them to stop Sasuke from fighting Gaara. He performed well. Now everyone dismissed. Aburame Shino, stay behind."

"Hai, Hokage-sama." I assumed Shino stated dully somewhere in the room.

I was jealous. I was pissed. Some weirdo just made Chunin. Naruto was gone…. I was even more flustered when after seeing how powerful he actually is, some people resented him even more. I hate people with ego trips like that.

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A year crawled by. Missions, training, missions. That's what that whole year was about. It wasn't that bad. Getting to know the remainder leftovers of the "Rookie 9" helped it go by a bit faster; they all had a bit of that legendary class since all rookies made it to the preliminaries.

We had skipped two Chunin Exams just because Neji and Lee wanted to wait for a certain blond to come back. And I thought I was the one with the crush. Boys. Them and rivalry. They weren't being held in the village so we didn't really want to leave just yet anyway.

Now its two years since he left. There is some sort of party at Chouji's house. I lazily put some jeans on and a hot pink shirt. I call Neji up and drag him along to come with me. No way in hell am I going to show up by myself.

I randomly move around the gigantic house. There's a fight. Never mind, it was just Ino and Sakura again.

I finally spot Neji. Slugging down drinks like there's no tomorrow. He dodges cups and arms while still drinking. Classy bastard. I wonder what's he looking at so seriously at. Ah. Lee. No way in hell are we ever going to let Lee drink again. I'm pretty sure we still owe that bar money! Thank God Tsunade-sama made it illegal for him to drink.

Some time later, I spy Ino in the corner with Shikamaru. Lazy bastard that he was, but still managed to get his tongue halfway down her throat.

Feeling a bit envious, I snag Neji and force him to dance with me.

"Tenten, you know I detest dancing."

"Yeah well, I'm a lonely girl and am not going to stand alone in the corner waiting for some guy to ask me. Just follow my lead. Sheesh."

After prancing around with Neji a bit, I let him go. I walked over to where the drinks were and start downing. As if it was my fault my schedule is so damn tight I don't have much time to socialize with anyone outside of my teammates and the nine-gang? Besides, I haven't met anyone yet whom I can honestly say was cute and was sincerely attracted to.

I see Lee talking to some girl. She looked cute. It's a wonder she was still talking to him. I spot a crutch near her. Oh…Poor girl.. Go Lee. I guess.

Unlike Lee, I can drink. I'm six-teen damn it. It's nearly three in the morning when the party is starting to wind down. I think. Shit. I lost track of cups I've had. That's not good. The last thing I remember, some stranger whose face I can't even make out is asking me if I was all right.

"I'm perfect." I drawled. I choose that time to pass out.

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Sun crept through my eyelids. "Fucking sun. Fucking hangover." I roll over.

"Colorful vocabulary you got there." Who the hell is that? Neji? No..The voice was too deep and lacked that certain eloquence..

"Shut up. Too loud." I whispered, rubbing my aching head.

"You had a shit load of drinks last night uh.. this morning. I'm surprised you're awake. Its only eight in the morning."

I groaned. Lucky for me it's Saturday. My parents aren't home. Yet. Bah. I'm old enough that they don't really care _where_ I'm at.

I still haven't gotten around to opening my eyes.

"This usually helps my master when he gets hangovers." His footsteps are like jackhammers on my skull. I groan again.

His hands are doing.._something_..to the back of my head, and oh God it felt so much better than that nasty headache. This time a moan slipped out.

I practically heard him smirk.

I stiffen. Just where the hell am I? Who the hell is touching me? Damn drinks. Brain doesn't even want to work right!

I quickly turned around, grabbed his wrists and put him in a basic choke hold from behind. Still holding both his wrists I begin my interrogation with the stranger. I idly notice that he actually smells nice and has golden hair.

"Where am I?"

"Jeez! Why are you so rough! I pi-"

"Where am I!" I took note of my surroundings. I was definitely sleeping on a bed. There's a window, and a weirdly familiar dummy that looked like it went through hell and back. I checked if I still had all of my clothes on. I did.

"I'm not saying nothing until you let me go Tenten-san."

"Who the hell are you?" Shit. That headache is coming back.

He made a sigh.

Before I know it, I'm on my back, arms are pinned down, he's _straddling_ me, and I'm staring at the most captivating sapphire eyes I've ever seen.

"Naruto?"

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**I hope you enjoyed the first chapter!**

**(1) I'm not sure exactly what he said so bear with me.**


	2. Chapter 1

First person perspective is a pain in the ass. I could only portray that certain individual's thought. I have way too much floating around in my head to just stick with one character. So say sayonara first person perspective.

Please note that I'm stealing a few elements from Geno Calamari's stories "Something or Other" and "Asinine Rationalizations". It's a Naruto and Sakura story, but I just love the way it's done. For me, a Naruto and Sakura has to be done _very_ carefully. With her, it's a fine line between "Aw that's so cute.." and "Stupid bitch!". Most authors (to me) can never pull off the Naruto and Sakura. So I ended up avoiding them. Geno, does it in such a practical and hilarious way, it seems they were made for each other. Either way, I'm just advertising it because it's a wonderful series and should get more attention.

Disclaimer – I do not own Naruto. All characters thereof belong to its respective owners. I'm not writing this for any sort of profitable gain.

Chapter 1

The sun had already begun to set, basking the sky in an orange blue. A certain blond sat on a hilltop reminiscing the past six-teen years of his life. He was just getting to the beginning of his apprentice with a toad hermit, when said hermit, spoke up from the bottom of the hill.

"Oi brat! Start up a fire. It's getting dark. Hurry it up so we can start our _fight_."

"Yeah yeah.." The blond muttered. He hated that sort of _fighting _with him.

Some wood, and a fire jutsu later, there was a roaring campfire. The blond sat in front of his fire, almost proud until again, his sensei broke him out of his reverie.

"Must you be so boisterous in everything you do? I have matches for a reason." The man said sounding a bit irritated.

The blond smiled sheepishly. "Heh.."

Near the rather large campfire, two prominent figures sat crossed legged facing each other. One, whose white mane held an interesting glow with the moon shining off it one side, and a blazing fire on the other. This one held a serene if not amused expression. The other whose wild blond locks glowed an intense flame and yet held a sense of order, defying gravity with its very existence. This one looked downright constipated.

"Brat, we've been doing this for nearly a year already. You have to CALM down. You can't just throw around all that chakra without thinking. Just because you happen to have a large amount of it, doesn't always mean you have to use it all in one little match!"

"I know but –"

"Breathe." His eyes closed, already visualizing and molding his chakra.

"But-" His arms flaying about, trying to get the old man to listen.

The old man opened an eye and with a bit more force, "Breathe."

After the man was satisfied with the teen's heart beat drop, he grinned.

"Begin."

For the average Joe, one would think the two were just sitting there in some sort of meditative stance. To the sensitive mind of a shinobi, one would be amazed at the sheer amount of concentrated chakra swarming above their heads.

Art in near perfect form. It was nothing more than creating your own animal and duking it out, but few had the discipline to even learn the complicity and understanding needed to fight. A toad that vaguely resembled Gamabunta with twin scythes appeared above Jiraiya's head. Jiraiya frowned.

"I see the chakra, but is that really what you're going to fight with? A big mass of blob?"

Naruto gritted his teeth in frustration, failing to stay calm.

Over the year, Naruto has yet to find an animal that he finds comfortable fighting with. Naruto tried the toad before, changing its various forms till his head spun. Didn't work out. Wolf, snake, a slug even, and all sorts of other animals, none of which could fit Naruto's character. There might have been one, but Naruto didn't dare go in that direction.

Tonight, Naruto went with a hawk. That was the only animal he could put up a descent fight with. And of course, Naruto, one who absolutely loves flashy stuff, had all sorts of equipment on it. Armor, extra long talons, and a wingspan of over five feet to boot. Jiraiya's toad was only three feet tall. Naruto snickered but stopped. He knew better. Jiraiya always won these fights.

The two animals charged each other. The hawk was reacting a tad slower than the toad. The toad sliced the hawk numerous times, while the hawk was mostly getting lucky slashes every now and then.

Naruto struggled to keep the detail of the hawk and motions while constantly forming more chakra for every chunk the toad knocked off. It was tedious work for a novice to fight like this for long periods of time, and Naruto time of learning was equivalent to an academy student.

The hawk quickly went over the toad clawed at its back. Jiraiya aggravated Naruto by showing off his skill by making the toad look annoyed and jumped tackled the hawk while slicing off both wings. The toad backed off a bit.

Jiraiya looked at Naruto. He had that usual look of determination, but was sweating profusely. Jiraiya let himself a small chuckle. This was the _only_ exercise in which Naruto would tire at after only ten minutes.

"Brat, lets call it quits for now. It's now seven hundred ninety-nine to ten." Jiraiya said tauntingly.

Naruto stared at his sensei inquisitively. They usually did this for at least an hour. This wasn't even fifteen minutes! Naruto wasn't going to voice anything though. He loathed finishing a good day with this. Working hard on a particular technique and getting it down elongated his ego during the day. At night he'd go back to step one with just doing _this. _But whatever happened, Naruto would always be a smart-ass.

"Feh. Impressed me, sensei. I didn't know you could count that far." _Yah senile, twisted, pervert! _He thought viciously.

"Whatever, brat." _Ungrateful little shit!_

They both understood each other. Despite what they both think of each other at times, they both would willingly give their life for each other if the time calls for it. In fact, one of the reasons Naruto was there in the first place was to be inconstant top-notch care.

Naruto exhaled and leaned back onto the grass admiring the stars. Shikamaru may have enjoyed gazing at clouds all day, but Naruto felt more peace staring up at the night sky, sprinkled with more stars than he could be bothered to count. He didn't really know what it was, but he never cared to look too in depth of his feelings. Not that ever did for that matter.

Jiraiya frowned. Jiraiya didn't like _that_ look. Perhaps it was because it's the look he has while writing one of his books.

"Naruto."

Naruto looked up at his sensei a bit surprised. He only used his name for something important.

"When was the last time you ever thought about …. Home?" Jiraiya was casual about it, as if it was just something he thought of. He pulled out his notebook to start scribbling and waited for his response.

Nauto almost choked on his own saliva. He thought about home almost everyday. Sakura, Kakashi, Iruka, Tsunade, Shizune and everyone else he left behind. He might call the Sand village home as well since he was very welcomed there.

"Not lately." Trying to sound uninterested, but failed since it came out in a feeble squeak. Naruto gulped, praying he didn't notice that _pathetic_ effort to lie.

"Hmm.." It was the sort of "Hmm" that translates to _lying jackass_.

"I guess you wouldn't mind if we started to head back to Konoha then, eh?"

"Fuck no!" Naruto stood up with a fist in the air. He quickly caught himself before he did something even more stupid.

"Not lately, huh?" Jiraiya roared with laughter at Naruto's flushed expression.

"Whatever." Naruto pouted. "I'm hitting the sack."

Jiraiya waved him off, still chuckling.

Just as Naruto was about to fall asleep, he heard giggling. Naruto frowned. Jiraiya only giggled while writing certain scenes in his… "_modest"_ … novels. "Perverted bastard.." he muttered.

Jiraiya heard the insult and responded with a rock to his head.

"ASS!"

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Among a nearly foot tall stack of papers, Tsunade found her only source of entertainment from a small little toad and a letter consisting of only three words.

_We're coming home._

Tsunade pondered a bit. They've only been gone for nearly two years. She distinctly remembered Jiraiya stating they'll be back after three, just to check in. Her speaker beeped. She hit the cute flashy pink button. The previous was an annoying red one.

"Yes, Shizune?"

"Kakashi is here."

"It's about time! He was supposed to be in here two hours ago." Tsunade massaged her temples. _Everyone_ was starting to develop Kakashi's habit. She's going to have to correct that soon, very soon.

There was a sudden, if a bit soft, knock.

"Hurry up and get your ass in here, Kakashi."

He strolled in without a care in the world, his infamous orange book absent. Kakashi knows better than to read that in the presence of Tsunade.

"Well?" She glared at him expectantly with her hand out.

He looked confused.

"Where is Tonton's medicine!?"

"Is that what you called me for? I gave that to you yesterday." Kakashi resisted the urge to scratch his head.

"What the hell are you talking about, you never stopped by-"

Kakashi pointed behind her.

She turns around and spots the medicine on one of the shelves.

"You were uh.. Ah.. resting. I didn't want to uh.. ah.. disturb, Tsunade-sama."

Growling to herself, she handed Kakashi the letter. His eyes widened a bit. "They're coming back.. When?"

"Monday next week."

Kakashi looks at the letter then to Tsunade. Twice.

"There's only three words.." He said hesitantly, seemingly afraid to tick her off.

"Jiraiya wouldn't send a poor little toad to come here from _that_ far away. And don't tell Sakura. She's been moping around lately and I think it would be a nice surprise for her to see that Naruto finally came back. All right. I have no further use of you. Get out."

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Shikamaru hated Wednesdays. It's when he had these stupid weekly meetings with the Hokage and the higher ups. It was to get experience with stupid strategic planning and such. Though he hated to admit it, thinking it's too troublesome to do so, he was a brilliant tactician already. It was merely easier to label everything stupid since he was very, very lazy.

He gave a pathetic wave to Shizune.

"Tsunade-sama is talking to Kakashi right now. It won't take long."

He nodded and went through the hallway to stand next to the door. They were talking about something. He knew better than to eavesdrop but was too lethargic to move otherwise.

_Why the hell would she ask a prominent Jonin like Kakashi, just to get some pig medicine?_

Shikamaru's continued eaves dropping and his eyes widened. It was more of a small twitch, but that's pretty much Shikamaru's shocked expression. _Naruto's coming back?_

The door opened as Kakashi walked out. He pulled out a familiar orange book.

Pausing to look at Shikamaru, Kakashi spoke, catching the Chunin off guard.

"I'm the only one who knows how to get it without getting killed." Kakashi shrugged and walked off. Shikamaru blinked.

"Shikamaru, get your ass in here, now!"

Shikamaru winced at the piercing shriek of the Hokage's voice. This particular meeting will not end well. He mentally stored away a thought to talk to Chouji to plan .. something .. for Naruto's return. If Shikamaru hadn't planned on playing Shogi with Chouji later, he wouldn't even have bothered.

Shikamaru walked in. Slowly.

"Faster!" Tsunade barked.

"Troublesome.."

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Near Kohona's gates, two guards over heard an argument that has plagued man since the beginning of time itself.

"Pink!" A blond roared.

"Brunette!" An equally emotional old man shouted back.

"Brunette is so plain and everywhere, I'd rather go for a unique hair color you old traditional geezer!"

"Which is why it's damn sexy! I mean really, brat, are you that kinky to enjoy seeing two shades of pink down there?" Jiraiya paused to let the last counter sink in.

Jiraiya started to get impatient after five minutes but when he saw the blush he grinned like a madman

"You know, sensei? I just might.." Jiraiya roared with laughter since the blond actually had to actually think this over.

"You had me worried for a second. A little slow on the response there, brat." He said as they walked in through the gate. There was an ANBU member standing in front of them.

"Uzumaki Naruto, Hokage-sama requests your presence immediately."

"What does she want with me now? I just got here!"

"Brat, just go. You know that temper of hers." Jiraiya chuckled.

"Yeah, yeah." With that, Naruto simply disappeared.

The ANBU member appeared to be shocked.

"That chakra..that speed..?

"A technique only he can do. He managed to get his _tenant_ to teach him a few things."

The ANBU almost let his mask fall. "You mean…"

"Yeah." The ANBU tried to read his face, but Jiraiya's mask was blank. Mind numbingly blank.

The two men were at an awkward silenced that seemed to stretch forever.

"So, Jiriaya-sama, when is volume four coming out?" Jiriaya grinned.

"My boy," He said, putting his arm around the elite nin. "Patience is a virtue."

The ANBU started to loose his composure.

"But you left us with that horrible cliffhanger! What's Kyte going to do when he finds out Sona went _all_ the way with his sister? Will he forgive her? Will he accept her despite the fact she goes both ways! Jiraiya-sama you have to get volume four out!"

If he had _any_ composure after that rant, he might as well strip down and sing after inhaling helium.

Jiraiya started to get annoyed. Half the villager's men, even a few of the women, were tailing him asking about the upcoming volume. Jiraiya then got an idea.

"SHUT UP!" Silence. "Finally. If you really want to know, send me a letter with your questions or comment with a small five-dollar fee. I'll get back to you ASAP." Jiraiya grinned evilly.

"But we don't have your address!" Someone called out.

Jiraiya pulled out a large box seemingly out of nowhere.

"Put it in here." He stated smugly.

It would be nearly a week later when Tsunade found out about his corrupt box and told Jiraiya to stop.

There were no refunds.

wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww

Naruto stood before Tsunade for inspection, but for what reason he didn't know. He normally didn't mind people staring, having nothing but cold looks thrown his way since as far as he could remember, but it has already been fifteen minutes for crying out loud. She had that disconnected look, as if she wasn't even looking at him at all.

"Aye granny panties!" Before he even knew he blurted that out, he was sure he was going to get knocked through the wall.

"Oompf!" The blow didn't actually hurt that much, but the splinters stuck in his ass did.

Oh the joys of hated being right.

"Hi again!" Shizune, whom was _way_ too chirpy with the fact that Naruto just got punched through the wall.

"Don't give me that look, Naruto-kun. You should be thankful you went through only one wall." She said beaming. Someone patted his back.

"Jeez!" Naruto turned around and swatted the hand away. "Do you have to sneak up on me every time, Kakashi-sensei?"

"Yo." Kakashi said, ignoring the question as if it wasn't worth a minute of his life.

Naruto blinked.

"Whatever. I'm out of here."

Kakashi sighed and put a hand on his shoulder. "Yeah its good to see you too." He said sarcastically. "I'm sure you don't want to sleep indoors tonight so here are the keys to your apartment. It's the same one. You still remember where it's at?"

Kakashi could only sigh as one of his first students walked away without a seconds glance.

"Yeah."

"Naruto that wall is coming out of your pay!" Tsunade yelled.

Naruto cursed as he left. And cursed again as he started to pick at the splinters.

Rushing back to his old apartment and letting himself in, he took a good look around. The place was a wreck. Dust everywhere, cobwebs, you name it. He threw his belongings on the ground. "I'm way too lazy to clean up. I wonder what's in my fridge?"

Peering in, the only thing he saw was a large amount of bottled water, some condiments, and a half eaten sandwich. He threw it in the garbage. He didn't want to be tempted by it later.

"Better go shopping."

He had only barely finished packing his fridge and bathroom when Jiraiya showed up at this door. Naruto groaned.

"What now?"

Jiraiya flashed Naruto a very sincere smile.

"Camping trip!"

Naruto whined and complained but, managed to endure another three days with Jiraiya.

"Sensei, we've been here for three days and for the most part, I've been stuck here with you in the forest! What's the point of coming to Konoha if you're just going to make me train in the forest!" Naruto shouted. It was true. Two days and he did nothing but his daily exercises and meditations with Jiraiya. He hadn't met anyone yet.

"Okay you loud mouthed brat. Complain, complain. Is that all you do?" Jiraiya sighed. "I have to talk with Tsunade anyway. Take the week off. I have a lot of research to catch up on as well. The fans are going wild for my next volume." Jiraiya grinned. Oh how he loved the money he was making.

"Finally!" Naruto sped off towards the village.

Jiraiya shook his head at the rapidly fading figure.

"Good luck. For you and the village's sake."

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Aimlessly wondering around the village for nearly half an hour, Naruto stopped, unwillingly.

Try as he might, for the life of him, Naruto couldn't move. His brain kicked. Only one person (not to mention the rest of his clan) could do something like this.

"For a guy who complains about things being troublesome, you sure as hell do troublesome things!" Naruto growled.

"You always were the slow one. I was tailing you for over twenty minutes." Naruto did in fact knew _someone_ tailing him, which was why he was wondering around in the first place.

"Whatever yah ass." Naruto retorted.

"Chouji's house. Follow." Shikamaru said, releasing the bind.

Naruto followed wordlessly for being bored too long. Visiting Chouji seemed like a good idea anyhow. Till he found Sakura that is..

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"Shit! Chouji lives here?!" Naruto stared, bewildered at the huge mansion/house.

"Yeah," Shikamaru drawled. "Unlike most clans, whoever the strongest is in the clan's highest regards. They get their own home, servants, and pretty much have total freedom in doing whatever you want." Shikamaru paused to let it sink in.

Shikamaru smiled a bit. "You know Naruto, Chouji made Jonin a few months ago."

"HE MADE WHAT?!" Naruto was twitching.

"Ever since _that_ mission, Chouji devoted his life to nonstop training. Working relentlessly during the day and hunched over scrolls at night. It was a drastic change." Shikamaru knocked on the door.

"Oi fat-ass. Open the door." Shikamaru called out.

Naruto snickered but when the door opened he nearly fell back on his ass.

The towering figure before him was anything but fat. Yes he was big, but it sure as hell wasn't because he was fat. Huge bulky muscles had replaced his old flabby arms. Cleary defined chest, but still had a ghost of a gut with the standard four pack. The big brute hadn't bothered putting on a shirt.

"Naruto! Man! I almost didn't believe it when Shika told me he spotted you yesterday! Quit gawking and get your ass in here."

Chouji patted his back as he walked in, knocking Naruto into a pair of soft warm pillows.

_Wait a minute…_

Naruto looked up to a beaming red haired babe.

"Hello, Naruto-kun."

"Bah!" Naruto flung himself (reluctantly) from the well-endowed woman. Ripe, enormous…

"Ah, so you've met my cousin Imari, eh Naruto?"

"Uh, yeah…." Naruto said, failing to hide the trail of blood from his nose.

Imari was staring at Naruto, looking a bit hurt.

"Naruto-kun, you don't remember me?"

Naruto stared at her for a long time. Shikamaru coughed.

"Holy shit! Ayame?!" _Two years and she gets that much bust! Wow.._

She nodded fiercely.

Chouji looked confused. "How does _he_ know your nickname?"

"Before Naruto left, he would always come to dad's ramen shop. Our number one customer."

"Hell yeah! Best place in the world. But damn, I had no idea you were related to the Akimichi clan."

Ayame heaved a sigh.

"It's a bit of a long story. I'll tell you later whenever you drop by." She pinched his butt and grinned devilishly. "We nearly ran out of business without you to inhale all our ramen, Naruto-kun."

Naruto scowled.

"You would have run out of business years ago if it weren't for me. Be thankful that I showed up today for lunch. Were you there earlier? I don't think I would have noticed a rotting corpse near me since I was eating.."

"I was here helping to set up for the party, idiot." She looked at him fondly.

"Oh." _Party?_

"Anyway," Shikamaru started, annoyed with having to talk so much today already. "The party is at eight, which is an hour away. So," Pausing to stare at him, "Naruto, you should .. _change_."

"Party? What party?"

Shikamaru let out an exasperated sigh.

Chouji answered. "A welcoming party for you of course. I doubt people will know its for you though. We didn't feel like decorating all that much. Besides, putting "Welcome Back Naruto" would have been weird. We don't like you _that_ much. Still, we invited tons of people."

"Yeah. So go change before you forget." Shikamaru said, growing even more irritated for speaking way too much today.

Naruto looked down at himself. It looked similar to what Jiraiya wore, but with a different tone of colors. Which was orange of course. Chouji decided to grace Naruto with his opinion.

"You look like a dumbass."

Naruto groaned. "It's that blasted pervert sensei of mine. He's the one who makes me wear this crap."

Ayame smacked Chouji over the head. "It doesn't look all that bad. Look at Shika-kun. He wouldn't iron his clothes even if it was to save his own hide." Shikamaru just shrugged in response.

Everyone went silent as Naruto tore off his clothing revealing dark colored pants and a rather stylish looking orange shirt.

"Ah. Much better."

Ayame slapped her forehead and groaned. "Still wearing that dorky color.. Gotta love those foreign pants though."

"Thanks.. Hey! IT'S NOT DORKY!" Naruto roared.

Shikamaru and Chouji shook their heads.

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Naruto had _never_ been to a party in his entire life. There was food, music, a lot of people he didn't even know, and last but not least alcohol. In short, he was having fun. He danced with any girl willing, laughed and horsed around with Chouji, who to Naruto's surprise to learn that he was quite the lady's man. But he avoided the drinks. Jiraiya had recorded what Naruto did when he first got plastered. He shuddered.

Naruto nearly fell over when he spotted Neji walking in with a very cute girl in pink, and was going to say hello but walked over to Lee instead. Naruto figured Lee was better company than Neji.

"Oi Lee!" Naruto made his way through the crowd to where Lee was eying the drinks longingly.

"Why in all the fire's in hell, is that you Naruto?! Heh, looks like somebody finally got that growth spurt."

"Damn straight. I wasn't gonna stay short forever."

"It's good to see you again, but I have some uh.. business to attend to." Naruto noticed Lee eying a girl in the corner with crutches.

"Sure. Whatever."

Naruto sat down feeling slightly depressed. He used a Henge earlier on himself to hide the whisker marks. _I wonder if all those girls would still have danced with me knowing who I was…_

"The hell you looking so down for, Naru-chan?" Came a vaguely familiar obnoxious voice.

"What did you just call me?" Naruto stood up to the offender. "Temari?"

"The one and only." Naruto smiled. Only she could be this arrogant and not piss him off with the attitude. And only she could still look good wearing a simple white top and a brown skirt.

"What are you doing in Konoha?" He asked as he got rid of a few cramps in his neck.

"I could say the same to you."

Naruto stared at her blankly. Temari twitched, then grumbled. It unnerved her to whenever Naruto just gave her such a blank look.

"Okay! My brothers and I have special privileges on going from here to home." She saw his smirk and put him in a headlock with a smack to the head.

"Stop calling me Naru-chan and knock off damaging my brain cells." He pouted even though he didn't really mind

Naruto had literally stumbled into Temari, Kankuro, and Gaara traveling with Jiraiya half a year back. He spent nearly two months goofing off with them, well not so much with Gaara, but he had a blast with Temari and Kankurou. Jiraiya was a little more than pissed when he found out what Naruto was doing half the day but didn't say anything. Jiraiya wasn't that much of a heartless bastard to deny Naruto companionship. He _did_ make him work triple efforts the next four months though. Naruto cringed when memories of grueling training flooded his mind.

Temari, also in deep thought, absentmindedly started to caress what could have been scars on his cheeks.

"Jeez. Get off me will yah?" He maneuvered his way out and stood in front of her.

Temari frowned at him.

"What's with the frown?" He stared at her with a curious if not worried expression. That expression always meant an overly long lecture. He hated getting lectured. Especially by someone who was barely two years his senior

"You're hiding." She said flatly.

"Okay...."

"Drop the Henge, Naruto. I thought I told you to stop being ashamed," She paused to lean in and whispered in his ear, "of the burden you carry." She knew. Thanks to Gaara that is. The loner just didn't know how to keep a secret. Go figure.

"I'm not ashamed. It's just.."

"Not ashamed? If you weren't you wouldn't be here sulking thinking about how bad people might take it if they saw your birth marks and know who you really are."

Naruto sighed and looked away.

"C'mon. They're playing my song. Dance. Now." She ordered as she grabbed his hand and led him through the crowd to the middle of the enormous living room.

When Temari turned around to look at Naruto, his hands were on his knees and face scrunched up in a pained expression. She looked at him and cocked an eyebrow.

"Someone….Hnn… crotch.." He was breathing heavily. No matter now much you train, you can't train _that_ spot.

"Take it like a man and dance."

She, wrapping her arms around his neck, and him holding onto her waist, Naruto couldn't help but enjoy himself again. Dancing with an actual friend had a better feel to it than just picking some random girl whose skirt was unbelievably short, or whose top was just a tad too low. Temari could beat any of those girls _any_ day.

Perhaps it was because she didn't have the bit of fat flab most civilians tend to carry?

In one of the most tranquil moment of his life, Naruto almost missed the flash of pink hair.

"Temari…" He said into her ear.

"Mm?" Temari murmured, lost in the moment, head comfortably resting at his chest. Not really caring that Naruto was the only male _ever_ to see her vulnerable side.

"It's Sakura." She looked up. A twinge of jealousy knotted in her stomach at just hearing the girl's name.

"Are you familiar with her?"

"Um, we've spoken a number of times.." Temari answered, not really sure where this was going.

"Introduce me to her!" He pleaded.

"What the hell for, she's your freaking teammate!" She hissed.

"I'm not going to go to her as myself. I have to know if even after two years she's still stuck up on that Mr. I-wanna-throw-everything-away-because-of-one-guy, I can't keep wasting my life on her." She could sense the inner turmoil and regret. She held on to him a little tighter. "She's the main reason why I even bothered coming back here. Temari-chan, please?"

Looking into his eyes she growled. She damned his intense blue eyes.

"Fine. You owe me big time for this. I don't enjoy lying to acquaintances."

Naruto nodded feverishly. "Yeah, just say I'm your cousin or something. Ooooo! Say my name is David!"

"What the hell?" Temari exclaimed.

"I dunno… It was the name of a kid who defeated a giant. Ancient story Jiraiya made me read. I can tell you about it in detail later. Now come on, off to Sakura!"

When the pair finally caught up to the pink haired kunoichi, she was having some sort of argument with Ino.

Sakura's back facing the two, Ino motioned Sakura to look behind her.

"Oh, hello Temari." Sakura was going to say something else but stopped dead in her tracks at the teen besides the sand nin, as did Ino.

"Ahem." Temari coughed, noticing the incredilous look on both of their eyes. She stole a quick glance at Naruto. _He's only got the Henge on for his birthmarks, so why the hell are they staring at him like that? Does he really look that good?_

Naruto, being the naive imbecile he is, was totally oblivious to both of looks he was receiving.

"Sakura, I'd like you to meet a good friend of mine back home. His name is David." Temari felt extremely awkward saying the name. It just didn't fit.

There was a yellow blur and Ino was suddenly seen at "David's" side, clinging to his arm.

"David! How about you and me ditch these two and go someplace where we can have to ourselves." One could note of the awkwardness Ino said David with.

Looking down, Naruto almost agreed because he couldn't think since Ino had her boobs all over his arm. Which had the intended effect.

Naruto shook his head. _Damn you Jiraiya! This wouldn't be so hard if it weren't for you. Stay focused!_

Ino wasn't really trying to get "David" alone. Yes, she found "David" attractive, but she mainly did this for Sakura. She had Shikamaru after all, even if he was a lazy good for nothing. In a good way.

Sakura, finding herself the only person she knew without a team, slowly fell into a depression. Her first crush deserted her, a person who she had treated like dirt for the most part, nearly died trying to keep a promise for her. And to top it off, she wrote off her first friend _ever_ over something as childish as a crush. Simply put, Sakura felt like shit.

Ino could only helplessly stand by since there was nothing she could do. She introduced guy after guy to Sakura, whom would just politely declined their invitation. Lee had his chance, but blew it with his narrow-minded thinking. Ino noticed the look on her face when she saw David. Thinking rather on impulse, she latched onto David trying to lure Sakura out. It worked.

"Ino, get off David." Sakura politely said, but violently shoved Ino away.

"Sorry about her, she doesn't get out much." Sakura smiled.

"Heh, no problem." David smiled back.

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Ino, smirking to herself, elbowed Shikamaru in the ribs.

"Ow. What did I do this time?" Shikamaru rubbed his repeatedly offended ribs.

"Nothing you moron. But look at that." She pointed at "David" and Sakura.

"So? It's just Naruto and Sakura talking." He muttered, not really getting how big this was.

"What the hell do you mean it's just Naruto and Sakura talking? Sakura never talks to any- WHAT?"

"Even the music can't seem to drown out your screams." He commented, rubbing his ears.

"THAT," She said while forcing Shikamaru to look at the pair talking. "GORGEOUS HUNK OF MALE IS NARUTO?"

"Yes." He was a little more than uncomfortable since his girl openly admitted something she never said about him.

"But he's so.. so hot! And his birthmarks, or at least I _think _they're birthmarks, are gone. You're so lying."

"Why the hell would I be lying?" Shikamaru scowled. He sat down in a chair. _Women_, he thought.

Ino positioned her rump adequately in his lap. "Aw.." Ino cooed, playing with the tip of his nose. "Is someone jealous of another person's looks?"

"No." He desperately tried to ignore her _two girls_ that were meshed in his face.

"Oh just admit something for once. You might actually feel better about it. But, you know, you'll always be top in my book, Shika-kun."

She leaned in to kiss him in that soft gentle way, the way many poor romantic saps always envisioned.

But in the end, it was a lie since to the on looker the two was trying to eat each other.

wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww

Temari couldn't bear to watch the two talk. She wondered around upstairs and found couples littered all over the place, making her feel even worse. Eventually she found herself standing outside on a balcony. Alone.

Shikamaru. She had been attracted to him a bit; thinking a smart-ass like him would make a good man. But that got shot to hell with the appearance of Ino. Besides, learning a bit more of Shikamaru, she found he just wasn't her type. There was no connection between them. No real spark. Hell, there wasn't a spark _in_ him_._ He would not actively participate in a relationship. After dealing with Gaara and pissed scared boys back at home (scared of Gaara) Temari did not want to be the one forcing the relationship all the time.

Then there was the living paradox called Naruto. Powerful but weak. Smart and stupid. And just damn fun to be around with. She didn't really understand that pang deep in her stomach when he was around. Was it a crush? Was it love? Or is it simply because she never had any real male companions before?

Her feelings towards him when he first arrived in her village was fear. He had defeated Gaara and was getting trained by one of Konoha's finest. After that passed she hero worshiped him a bit, and then she discovered he was like the perfect little brother. Naive, innocent, smart when needed and would kick anyone's sorry hide that dared to lay a finger on her. She had never _truly_ felt safe until she started spending time with him and it _did_ feel good to listen to the blond brat prattle on about his problems all those months ago, it made her feel needed. That was definitely a new feeling. Whatever it was, it was giving her a headache thinking about it.

She shivered in the cold. Catching her by surprise, a pair of powerful and warm arms wrapped her up and began to spin her around in circles.

"Woohoo! Temari can you believe it?" Naruto sang.

"Naruto you idiot! Put me down!" Temari was glad he couldn't see her flushed expression. _Oh God.. I'm seventeen and I still blush like an idiotic schoolgirl, _she thought dejectedly.

"She's over him! She's over him!" He still sang, ignoring her demands.

"How do you know she's over him anyway." She struggled a bit more and gave up. The bastard didn't even know his own strength.

"She said she'd have lunch with me. Woohoo!"

"Did you tell her who you actually were?" Temari was starting to feel a little dizzy.

The spinning abruptly stopped.

"Aw shit! I forgot about that!" He let her go.

"Well stop standing there like an idiot. Go downstairs and tell her."

"I can't." He whined. "After we said good bye she went home. I then spent the next half hour looking for you! I guess I could tell her tomorrow. Aw man.. She's gonna throw a fit."

_I've been standing out here for over half an hour? I think way too much…_

"Well, Naru-chan, it's getting late. I have to get up early tomorrow and head back home with Kankuro. Work."

"What? My first day back.. Actually ..I've been here for nearly three days.. Not the point but your just going to leave me?"

"Naruto, what time do you think it is right now? It's already two in the morning!" Temari huffed.

"Really? Shit. Time flies when you're having fun, ne?" He chuckled.

"I'll see you around, Naruto." _Besides.. I don't think I can deal with you right now_; Temari did her best to ignore the pain resulting from not discussing things such as this. She had been doing it her whole life. She was getting sick and tired of it. The life of a shinobi was growing ever so annoying. She always had to be strong, never show emotion, never get attached.

He changed so many things about her, without really doing it. Just by influence. He changed her priorities, her goals, even how she interacted with people.

She forced herself to turn away from the person she didn't even know had already anchored himself to her life.

"Bye, Temari. Oh wait!" Temari stopped and turned around.

"What?"

"When are you leaving? I want to see you off at least. I haven't bugged Kankuro in a while anyway. Oh man, the shit we pulled..."

Various areas of her village were subject to Naruto's and Kankuro's somewhat light pranks. They earned numerous nicknames. None of which were complimentary.

"Believe me Naru-chan," She said in between laughs, thinking back to when they fooled a bunch of druggies to smoke tea. "You don't want to see me off."

Crossing his arms over his chest he asked defiantly, "And why is that?"

"I'm leaving in a couple of hours."

Naruto fell over. "Say what?"

"And I _know_ you. Your body works like a clock. I bet you still fall asleep at four thirty sharp."

Naruto blushed and scratched the back of his head. It still was true. No matter how hyper he was, for the life of him he couldn't stay up past four thirty.

"I guess I'll see you if you ever come back. Hell, I might just go and visit." He resolved.

"I'll look forward to it. But, before I go Naru-chan… take of that Henge." She tried to look stern, but ended up grinning.

"Heh.. Forgot about that." He said, smiling sheepishly. Naruto escorted Temari out and released the henge. Temari gave him a halfhearted smile for his efforts.

"Much better. Later, Naruto."

"Bye, Temari." He said as she walked out. He turned around and spotted Neji, who seemed to be downing shots alone with no signs of letting up. He meandered over and grabbed himself a random cup and Neji poured from the bottle for him.

"Naruto, good to see you." Naruto didn't notice any slurring, and despite that Neji just downed about four glasses, not even counting what Neji had before he showed up, the Hyuga looked very much sober.

"Dude, you hold your alcohol well."

Neji gave a light chuckle and shook his head.

"Believe me, I'm _gone_. This," he gestured to one last shot, " will be my last one. A few more than I'll be so belligerently intoxicated, I might pass out on the floor."

Neji snorted.

"A drunk Hyuga Genin. Perfect"

"So you're telling me, that even after two years, you're still a Genin?" Naruto said, in between gulps of a large plastic cup. Naruto was making damn sure he wasn't going to drink too much.

Neji exhaled, annoyed to no end. Even after two years, he still was loud, obnoxious, annoying…

"I do not have to explain anything to you." No way in hell was Neji going to say he was waiting for him to come back. Even if it was to try and smear his carcass on the pavement legally.

"Che. Party pooper. Oi Lee, what the hell is the matter with you? You've been ogling the liquor all night. Just grab one already."

"I'm afraid I cannot. Hokage-sama, Gai-sensei, as well as Neji and Tenten forbid it. I don't exactly know why though." The taijutsu master still didn't know what sort of monster he was while totally hammered.

"Who is Tenten?" Naruto did not remember their third member. Obviously.

"She's over there." Lee pointed.

"Hey! It's that hot ass girl I saw walk in with Neji earlier. Oi, Neji, aren't you two like.. together or something like that?" He waited for a response. None came.

"What's with the silent treatment? Wow, look at all the bottles around her. Did she really drink all that? I'm surprised she can even stand." Naruto yapped a lot. He didn't enjoy silence all that much.

Neji and Lee shrugged.

"You guys are such hypocrites. Drinking so much and not letting Lee get some. To hell with them, Lee, here." Before Neji could react, Naruto had slammed a bottle in Lee's mouth.

"Naruto you fool! You'll bring the death of us all!" Neji yelled.

"The hell are you talking about? I just gave Lee some- Oof!" Quicker than any one could follow Lee had dashed and slammed his fist into Naruto's gut.

Naruto flew through a wall. Luckily, it wasn't wood so no splinters.

"I'm getting really tired of flying through walls!" Naruto spat and ran back inside.

What he saw was insane. There was a whitish green blur moving all over the place. Girls screaming and running around all over the place, shinobi were barking out orders left and right. _What the hell is going on?_

Amongst all the screaming and chaos, Chouji's roar was heard.

"**Who the _fuck_ gave Lee liquor!?"** There was a pause. "**Damn** it **Neji**, why **didn't **you stop **him**!" Another pause. "Whatever. Just try and lure him out of here before he breaks something else! Shikamaru help get everyone out before they get hurt!"

Naruto frantically searched the room for someone who knew what was going on. He gave up after a minute.

"What the HELL is GOING ON?!"

Shikamaru smacked him from behind the head. Naruto turned around.

"Idiot. I was getting to the good part." Shikamaru looked like he had put on his clothes hastily. Naruto swore he smelled familiar.

"Lee is strong. When he gets even a small amount of liquer, he loses his discipline and control. He can be very dangerous, as you can so plainly see."

"Oh. Lets take him down then." Naruto said, not really knowing how much trouble Lee was when even he was slightly tipsy.

"Too troublesome. Just help me herd the people out."

"But I want to –"

"Help. Before I tell exactly _who_ gave Lee the alcohol. They'd mob you.

Naruto grinned guiltily.

"About time you took off that Henge."

Naruto made a face.

"What are you, my mother?"

While Neji was trying to get Lee's attention, Naruto and Shikamaru was trying to get people the hell out. Naruto was doing most of the work, with his clones running all over the place, taking hits for those who couldn't defend themselves.

Naruto was starting to get frustrated. All of the techniques that he could have used to hold Lee down were too destructive and would ruin Chouji's house. Naruto did _not_ want to piss the newly instated Jonin off.

It didn't help that the people he was helping were looked at him apprehensively, figuring out who he actually was without the Henge. Some of the looks came from the exact same girls he danced with earlier.

"Oi, Chouji! Everyone is out." Naruto called out. A few more blurs and more clones were hit out of existence.

"Finally." Chouji clapped his massive hands together. "Operation: Take out Lee."

Neji zipped into view at Chouji's left side.

Shikamaru merely walked over which ruined the dramatic flair Choiji had intended.

Neji had a devilish smile at his lips.

"Naruto, this may take a few hours. Do you mind taking Tenten home? I don't want her to sleep on the cold floor." It was more of an order than a request.

Chouji anticipated Lee's movements and tackled the blur; the blur was flung outside from the force.

Chouji nodded towards and Neji and Shikamaru.

"Lets go!" Chouji yelled.

The three ran off with Chouji slightly behind.

"Wait! I don't even know where she lives!" It was too late. They were already gone.

The huge house felt so creepy without anyone in it.

Naruto spotted Tenten propped up against the wall, sleeping.

"Stupid bastards.. Make me take care of _their_ teammate."

He poked her a bit. "Oi, Tenten, you okay? You had a mess load of drinks here.. You better not hurl on me."

Tenten blearily opened her eyes, unfocused.

"I'm…perfect.." She slipped into unconsciousness again.

"Where the heck am I gonna take her? I don't have the slightest clue on where she lives." Roaming around her pockets for an I.D., he couldn't find anything but a tiny scroll that he couldn't open.

"Oh screw this. I'll just take her to my place." He lifted her up onto his shoulder but found that her head was too close to his lower buddy, so switched her around. This didn't work out too well either since her rump was now near his face.

"Oh man. None perverted thoughts. None perverted thoughts." Naruto chanted as he began the long walk to his apartment.

Fumbling with the lock he kicked the door in. Walking to his room still holding Tenten, he smelled the sheets. Naruto snickered. Tsunade had sent some poor unfortunate Genin team to clean the storm wreck known as his living space. He set her on the bed.

"Great. I'm stuck on the couch."

Taking a quick shower and putting some his boxers and sweatpants on, he dropped on the couch and fell asleep.

wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww

Naruto woke up parched. After getting something to drink from the fridge, he brushed his teeth and remembered the brunette sleeping in his room. He grabbed a bottle of water for her, whom was most likely dehydrated from all the alcohol from earlier in the morning.

As quietly as he could he walked into his room and heard her curse.

"-ing sun. Fucking hangover." He watched her roll over. Naruto noted her extremely shapely rear.

"Great. It's official. I"m a pervert. Thanks a lot ero-sennin." He muttered.

Shaking his head, he decided to make his presence known. "Colorful vocabulary you got there."

After being told to shut up, he thought it would be good payback to keep talking.

"You had a shit load of drinks last night uh.. this morning. I'm surprised you're awake. Its only eight." She kept trying to ease away the headache by massaging her temples.

Naruto felt sympathetic for her and used a technique Tsunade taught him when bringing her to Konoha. Walking towards her, he did the best he could to not make too much noise with his footsteps on the carpet floor.

"This usually helps my sensei when he gets hangovers."

Naruto massaged various parts of her head and eased chakra to certain parts of her brain to numb the headache and actually cause pleasure. She moaned.

_None perverted thoughts. None perverted thoughts.._

Too busy trying not to act like his sensei, Tenten managed to put him into a choke hold and was rather rough about it

Naruto was annoyed. He could have just left her there alone on Chouji's floor but brought her here, and this is the thanks he gets?

"Where am I?" She sounded rough, but he could smell the traces of fear leaking out.

"Jeez! Why are you so rough! I pi-" _Jeez. Her grip is pretty strong. Not bad._

"Where am I?!" She repeated, sounding a bit more desperate.

Naruto was growing more annoyed, but tried to keep his temper in check. This was a lady after all. It's not as if he introduced himself properly anyway. What did he expect from her? She did wake up in an unfamiliar area.

"I'm not saying nothing until you let me go, Tenten."

"Who the hell are you?" Naruto didn't feel like talking to anyone while unable to breathe normally.

With a sigh, Naruto easily broke out of her grasp and had her pinned on the bed, straddling her waist.

Looking down at her face, Naruto was right. _Crap! She's super cute! Shit..Of all the damn positions I have to use…_ Naruto was shaken from his thoughts when she said his name.

"Naruto?" All the fear was gone and was replaced by.. awe?

"You know my name? That's surprising." _How in the world does she know me?_

Tenten, noticing this odd position, and the fact that he was shirtless, and figuring out this was definitely NOT one of her dream fantasy settings..

"Naruto? Is that really you?" Making sure, just in case.

"Um yeah."

_Oh God, he's gorgeous!_

Admiring his body a bit more she looked at his eyes again. She smirked.

"Be gentle. It's my first time."

Naruto practically flew off her and stumbled onto all sorts of things.

She started to rub her sides again from all the noise he was making. Perhaps teasing him wasn't such a good idea yet.

"Eh, sorry about that." He hands her the bottle of water. "Don't want you to keel over from dehydration now..heh.." _What the fuck was that? I sound like a dork!_

She didn't hear a word he said as her eyes ran across his body. Neji's build had muscles but looked so sculpted and athletic, almost feminine. Lee was down right bulky. Too bulky. Naruto on the other hand was some heavenly combination of both. Rippling shoulder muscles, powerful looking chest, and a well built abdomen. But still slim enough not to be unattractive. She almost drooled.

"What?" He asked uneasily.

"Mmm.. Nothing." Still staring, she took a sip of water.

"Then what are you staring at?" He was growing more uncomfortable.

"Nothing." She smiled sweetly.

"Nothing? You keep staring at me and you say nothing?" This girl was starting to drive him nuts.

"What, you got a problem with me looking at you?" She asked innocently.

"No.. Wait! Yeah I do! No wait.."

Naruto continued his sputtering when Tenten walked passed him, briefly scraping her rear against him

"I'm hungry. Get me something to eat." He stopped talking immediately and followed.

_Hell yeah! I've got him whipped!_

Naruto shouted back.

"Kiss my ass!"

Tenten twitched.

Wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww

"-then Neji told me to take you home. The punk was smiling; he knew I didn't know where you lived. Set me up. I should kill him later."

Tenten laughed. "I still can't believe you gave Lee liquor. The last person, who did that, was sent to a remote outpost for weeks. Poor guy still doesn't even know why. At least I know how I ended up here.." _Oh Neji you devil! I could almost kiss you!_

Naruto nodded and just kept slurping down ramen. Tenten marveled the fact that he ate so fast and managed not to splash anything anywhere.

"Did anyone ever teach you any manners? You eat like a pig." She kept staring at him. He hadn't put on a shirt yet.

"At least I ate. You barely took three measly bites."

"Instant ramen sucks. I'd rather eat real ramen." Noticing the smell of alcohol all over her, not to mention some perspiration, she decided she needed a bath. Or a shower at least "Do you mind if I take a shower here?"

"Uh.. not really.." Naruto mumbled, not really all that comfortable of having a female, not to mention a good looking one, naked anywhere in his humble abode. He might pull a Jiraiya and peek. She might attempt to kill him if he tried. Might.

"Great!" She beamed as she pulled out and opened a scroll, the same exact scroll from earlier that he couldn't open. She did a few hand seals and a puff of smoke appeared. After the smoke cleared, there was a toothbrush, a bar of soap and some extra clothes. Naruto did his best to NOT stare at the black thong that was peaking out from under a shirt. He was amazed nonetheless with all the stuff that literally came out of thin air.

Catching his look, Tenten shrugged. "My family excels at being able to pack things in scrolls." She looked at her belongings and sighed.

"Something wrong?" He inquired.

"Not really. But I'll have to use your shampoo and toothpaste."

As she walked away, again, Naruto tried to ignore her shapely rump, barely picking at his ramen.

wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww

Walking into his bathroom, Tenten happily noted the place was spotless. Old looking, and it wouldn't hurt to replace some of the cracked tiles or repaint the place, but clean all the same. _Not bad for a guy._

Disrobing, she turned on the shower. Nothing happened. Turning both knobs in both directions hadn't worked either.

"Naruto! Your shower is busted!" She yelled.

"Hit once under the shower head, and twice above the hot and cold knobs!" Came the slightly muffled reply.

"What the hell? Get your ass in here!" She yelled back. Pulling on a towel she opened the door. Naruto stood there with an impatient expression.

"Well? Don't just stand there. Get my shower started!" She slapped him on the rump for motivation. He was moving too slow for her liking.

He glared at her. "You could have just said please." He said walking to the shower, rubbing his ass. After doing the necessary rituals for summoning, water shot from the shower head.

"Give it five minutes for hot water." A light tinge of pink formed on his face from the fact that a flimsily thin towel was all that separating him from her nude form. Not to mention the bathroom was tiny. He knew he was blushing slightly. He just didn't know why. He saw much more skin at the party. Perhaps it was because she was a kunoich, so everything about her was nice. Nice defined calves, shapely muscular thighs, a few scars here and there. Naruto just didn't know. He didn't really _want_ to know. She was just damn fine.

"Thanks. You can get out now. Unless you want to help me bathe." Naruto was out the door before she said the word "bathe". Tenten laughed before closing the door.

Naruto tried not to think about the fact there was a naked female in his apartment. Mentally chanting his "keep from being perverted" motto, he ate four more bowls before she was finally finished.

She walked in while drying her hair she as Naruto was still slurping down ramen like there wasn't going to be a tomorrow. "Are you still eating that crap? I really have to show you the place where it's absolutely delicious. You would be paying of course."

Naruto could do little more but stared at her in astonishment. Not only was this girl comfortable at knowing who he was, waking up at his place, using _his_ shower, but she even liked ramen and didn't seem to mind if they ate with each other in the future. Maybe its because of the alcohol in her system still..

Tenten still drying her hair, caught his look. "What are you staring at?" She mocked trying to mimic his voice. She looked at him beaming.

"Very funny." He said as he stood up and made himself another bowl.

"So, Naruto-kun," _Naruto-kun? Says the crazy lady who was choking me earlier.. _"What have you been doing these past two years? Everyone missed you. It was so utterly _boring_ without someone raising hell."

_I missed what I didn't even get a chance to have.._

"All over the place. You should see the Chunin Exams in the hidden village of Mist. Almost the whole exam is underwater. Psycho is you ask me. It's not even fair. The resident shinobi had a mad unfair advantage. You just _know_ they train for that stuff all the time."

"That's harsh. Cheaters.."

"Yeah. It was total bullshit. I didn't get to see the rest though, ero-sennin-" Tenten raised her hand.

"Who's the _ero-sennin_?"

"Jiraiya-sensei." Naruto stated like it was the most obvious fact in the world. Tenten shook her head and motioned for him to continue.

"Like I said, before I was _rudely_ interrupted," Tenten stuck out her tongue. "Ero-sennin hates public places and events. He does whatever he can to avoid em'. Unless there are women around, the perverted bastard." He pauses for a second. "You know what's funny?" He asked while sitting down next to her.

"What?" She sneakily scooted closer to him. The blond didn't notice.

"When Jiraiya asked me to go train with him around the world, I thought it would be easy." Tenten cocked an eyebrow.

"You thought training with one of the sannin would be easy?"

"Yeah! The first time we trained, he just showed me a technique and just sat there monitoring me. Well.. he did throw me into this huge ravine..."

"He threw you off a ravine?!" She almost stood up.

"Calm down. It was just motivation for me to summon something large enough to get me out of there. As I was saying it was easy training. Sort of. Anyway, the second time he taught me something was when we were getting old lady Tsunade..."Tenten slapped the back of his glared yet again. "What the hell was that for?!"

"Don't you dare make fun of Tsunade-sama!" Her furious expression quickly disappeared and she smiled pleasantly. "You were saying?"

Naruto grumbled before starting again. "While we, or ..while _he_ was searching for _Tsunade-sama­,_" Tenten looked pleased. "Before he left for the day, he would teach me steps to this one technique and would practically desert me for weeks. He would stop by to drop off supplies or food, or a weird tip, but that was all."

Tenten nodded. "Didn't turn out like you thought it would, did it?"

"Not at all. I guess when he officially called me his apprentice he took it seriously. Almost two years of hell. I'll show you a quick example.. c'mere to the living room." He said standing up. Noticing her confused expression he grabbed her hand. "C'mon. I need more room, I can't do this in the kitchen."

The distance from the living room to the kitchen wasn't that much, but it gave Tenten enough time to really view the place.

The place was fairly clean, not a speck of dust in sight. A few scrolls here and there, a shabby looking couch and an old television set. The lack of pictures did upset her a bit. There was only one picture and it was his old team. Kakashi, Sakura, Sasuke-baka, and of course, Naruto.

_I knew he was an orphan, but to have utterly nothing? Oh Naruto.._

"Tenten!" Naruto said as he gently shook her. He was rather annoyed with her zoning out like that.

"Sorry. You were going to show me something?" She looked around and noticed he wasn't even holding anything.

"Yeah. Hold out your hands and spread out your legs a little."

"What are you going to do?"

"A training method ero-sennin used on me. Brace yourself. You might fall." Before she could have a say in the matter Naruto went through a haze of seals and tapped her ankle and wrist.

Catching her totally off guard, her wrists and ankles were brought together and down she fell. Instead of hitting the floor on her rump, something warm was holding her from behind.

"I told you to brace yourself." Tenten squirmed a bit and turned her head and bit a piece of his chest. Naruto almost dropped her.

"What the hell? You know, you have a bizarre way in showing appreciation." The extreme close contact was like an alarm clock for Naruto Jr. He made sure his buddy didn't accidentally make contact with the struggling kunoichi he was holding.

"I can't even move! How strong do you have to be just to walk around?"

Naruto let out a knowing laugh. "Well, these shackles, if you will, have nothing to do with the physical body."

Tenten looked clueless. "Explain before I bite a nipple off." Naruto quickly put her at arms length. He liked both of his nipples. He could restore it back anyhow, but still.

"Okay, just start gathering as much chakra as you can. Nothing fancy, just like they showed us how back at the academy."

Tenten was about to bite him again, but decided against it and gathered chakra.

He felt a small rise of chakra, but that wasn't going to cut it. "That's all you got? You have to give off more than that to move around in _those._"

Tenten turned to give him a glare and continued. By the time she could move she was getting breathless.

"What the hell!? You have to constantly generate this much to move around all the time?!" She yelled. Most of her techniques didn't require so much for a long period of time.

"Yeah. Try having this on while climbing a tree, or when the geezer asked me to go camp out on a lake."

Had Tenten not have the shackles on, she would have laughed. But she did so she just got pissed.

"How the hell can anyone do those things while generating this much? Most of it is going to waste since you're not doing anything with it."

She barely started to throw punches and kicks to begin to feel the strain. Quickly growing tired, she gradually lowered the chakra to the bare minimum to keep the shackles from locking up again. Despite the drop, she was still generating a lot, for her that is.

"This is an excellent way to build up your pool of chakra. Forcing you to generate this much.."

"Heh. Took me an hour to figure _that_ out." Naruto grinned sheepishly.

"You never did strike me as the bright type." Tenten said, hitting his shoulder playfully. Both laughing genuinely it threw him off when she suddenly grew serious.

"Now get this shit off me. Now."

After a long set of hand seals, Naruto muttered, "Release." And the shackles disappeared.

Tenten collapsed on the couch eying him curiously. His hands were fast. Real fast. "Goodness. How in the world did Jiraiya-sama think up something like that?"

"Who knows? The crazy geezer had tons of other stuff to torture me with as well. This is but a small sample. He's perverted and sadistic. What more can I say?" He sat down on the couch as well.

Looking at Tenten, she was snoozing peacefully on his couch. Naruto decided to leave her alone and went into his room to study some scrolls Jiraiya left him.

Naruto reluctantly began to read.

_Sona was shivering in the cold. Her bare breasts aching for Kyte's warm hands.-_

"What the fuck?! Jiraiya, you senile old bastard! These are _your_ notes!" Quickly rolling the scroll back up, Naruto rummaged through another set, hoping to find the scroll that was supposed to be filled with ancient history and myths.

Lost in his reading, he failed to notice a fist coming down on the back of his head.

"What the hell?!" He turned around to a very grumpy looking Tenten.

"I thought you had ditched me alone in a neighborhood I've never been in, and here you are reading. You could have at least answered when I called!"

Naruto turned his body around on the bed smiling sheepishly. "Sorry. I really zone out when I read."

"What are you reading anyway?" She asked as she flopped down on the bed next to him.

"Wow." She was amazed at what she read. "I had no idea you were a nerd.."

Naruto snatched the scroll away. "Jiraiya said I just _have_ to know this stuff. I caused all sorts of hell for him at first, but it reels you in after a while.. I ended up enjoying reading these," he gestured at the scrolls, "then listening to one of his marathon lectures. I never thought he could lecture with that much depth to it, being the pervert that he is."

"Is he really? I mean, everyone I know holds Jiraiya_-sama_ in really high regards.. Yet you insult him every chance you get." Her hair wasn't in its bun so she started twirling a stray lock around.

Naruto snorted. "When I first met the guy, I caught him peeping in the women's bath."

She raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything.

Naruto continued to read while Tenten seemed to just lay there lifeless or bored even. Little did our young hero know, Tenten was quite content with just being near him. Sure he's a tad weird, and his people skills need work, but that is expected, when your only companion was an old man. She was surprised he wasn't constantly blushing or staring at her. A bit uncomfortable, she shifted her body so that his side was acting as her pillow and dozed off yet again.

Naruto didn't mind. Still in the buff, something warm pressed into his side was more than welcomed.

Tenten finally woke up from her nap and glanced at the clock. "Jeez. It's almost eleven already? I must have been asleep for a while.."

Naruto turned to her in shock. "Huh? What time is it.. 10:51? Shit! I have to meet Sakura for lunch in nine minutes!"

Tenten tried. Oh she tried. But can you really expect her not to stare at the one person she _dreamed_ about for almost two years strip right in front of her and frantically (and failing) to find something to wear? Sure, the only thing he took off was his sweatpants, but still.

"Damn it! Where did those little bastards pack my clothes?!"

Tenten avoided most objects thrown in her way. Book, scrolls, anything that wasn't what Naruto was looking for.

"Ah ha! Found you, you sneaky little bag!"

Quickly getting dressed, much to Tenten's dismay, he headed out the door. She counted to herself to when he would stick his head back in the room. She was on twenty.

"Tenten!" He snuck his head through the door.

She stood up and crossed her arms. "You have a brain after all!"

"Sorry.. Can you come with me?"

"Why?" She didn't want to sound like she had nothing else to do.

Naruto scratched the back of his head. "Well, yah see, I asked her to come to lunch with me at the party, but, one thing lead to another and I used a Henge on myself so she wouldn't recognize me. You could be there to help restrain her in case she flips out or something." He looked at her pleadingly.

"Why in the world, would you do something that moronic?"

"It's a long story. Now c'mon!" He grabbed her hand and went out the apartment, kicking the door shut.

Walking through the crowd, Tenten noticed a number of people staring at them. They whispered or pointed, thinking she didn't notice. It all was ticking her off. She was also aware how the multitude seemed to sway away from them, as if trying not to touch Naruto in anyway possible. Naruto didn't appear to care.

"Naruto," She whispered, "what is with these people?"

"Don't worry about it. This part of Konoha doesn't really appreciate ninja all that much." He answered gruffly.

Though he kept a straight face and kept looking forward, she knew he was lying. If they didn't really appreciate ninja, they would have given her the same look. They never did. She was somewhat familiar with the neighborhood; it was where she would go to the Ichiraku Ramen.

It all kept bothering her. Other shinobi's obvious contempt with the boy, the villagers actions and words about him. How he seems to be so _burdened_. As if the whole world was on his shoulders. It didn't show much, but she caught that look on his face a couple of times. He looked so exhausted as if he was tired of life.

The sneers and hushed voices didn't stop till they reached the café and went inside.

Walking in, the atmosphere was much more comfortable. Soft music playing in the background, people enjoying themselves, and a pleasant smell to top it off. Naruto gave a sigh of relief. He Looked around he didn't see the pink haired kunoichi. "It's already 11:14.. She's always been punctual. I wonder what's keeping her?"

"Knowing her, she probably forgot about a session with Tsunade-sama." Tenten fumed. She was still a tad jealous with the fact that Sakura was chosen as _her_ idol's apprentice.

"Lets just grab a seat and save one for her. You think this place serves ramen?"

Tenten stared at him incredulously.

"What?"

Tenten just shook her head.

After finding a spot near a window a waitress walked up to them and handed them a menu.

"Good morning. I'm Mera. Whenever you're ready to order call me." She gave a polite bow, looking at Naruto as if she remembered him from somewhere and walked away.

Naruto was seated next to Tenten, she wondered if he was going to put on the Henge or not.

"Are you going to meet her like you are, or are you going to use the Henge first?" She asked bluntly.

"I'm in the Henge now."

"I don't see anything different." She said defiantly, intensely gazing at him.

Naruto pointed to his cheeks.

"I don't see.. Oh! You took off the lines. Why don't you just take it off instead of putting a Henge on it."

Naruto looked confused. "Those _lines_ are birthmarks." He released the Henge.

"I always thought you drew them there or something." She ran her fingers on his cheeks.

"You can even feel the crease. That's one strange birthmark you got there."

"Feh."

"That's all you did and she didn't recognize you? That's peculiar.. You'd think your own teammate would be able to pick you out of a crowd a mile away." Tenten had been staring out the window while speaking, but since he didn't respond to anything she turned to him.

There it was again. He normally looked carefree and generally happy, but his face held so much concern over something she had no idea over.

_What is with him? Loud and obnoxious one minute then the next he looks like someone told him his mother just died._

"Naruto-kun." She tapped his shoulder. Nothing. "Naruto!" This time she added a whack from behind.

"Yeah?"

Tenten sighed.

If there was an awkward silence, Naruto was oblivious to it. Thinking to his life, he would do almost anything to be a normal civilian. Keeping a no good, dirty mouthed fox in check, looking over your shoulder for any looming cloaked bastards, aiding the village, saving it numerous times. And for what? It was as if he was shunned away for two years.

It was two long years with nothing but a demon and an old man for company. No real friends. No real parents. No one he could really just break down sobbing to, no one who can ease away his pain. He wasn't Sasuke. He had no _real_ reason to keep on living. Nothing but his own selfish desires to be acknowledged. To be seen as a real person.

Not just some damn container.

Naruto wondered on numerous occasions if the fox would _really_ die along with him. He never confronted Jiraiya about it. Half too scared, half not really wanting to know the answer. If the fox would stay sealed for sure if he died, Naruto might have killed himself already. But Naruto knew he couldn't die unsure. To let that monster terrorize anyone again, he'd go to hell and back to make sure that didn't happen.

Taking a quick glance at Tenten, he smiled a small sad smile. Naruto always could sorta pick out people who would grow important to him. He's been right with everyone so far, even if one beat the living crap out of him, he felt Tenten would end up on his growing list of precious people. If he was lucky, he might see her as something more.

Tenten tapping his shoulder interrupted his thoughts.

"Naruto, she's here!" Tenten whispered.

"Oi Sakura!" Naruto waved her over. "Have a seat!" He was beaming like an idiot as he stood up.

"Sorry I'm late. Shizune-sempai had me do few errands and I lost my track of time." She gave Naruto a quick hug.

"It's fine. We weren't waiting that long." He pulled her a chair.

"We?" She then finally noticed the other kunoichi seated right besides "David".

"I believe you know, Tenten-san. She told me so much about you." He was still grinning like an idiot.

_Why does that grin look so… familiar?_

Sakura gave Tenten a quick greeting. "Tenten, I had no idea you knew David."

Tenten nearly fell over from the name. _David? _"Yeah, we met at the party last night. He's actually a good friend of Lee and Neji. I'm really surprised you don't know him though. He _is_ a nin from _Konoha._" Tenten grinned mischievously.

Sakura looked perplexed. "I thought he was from-"

She stared at "David". Still grinning like an idiot. Then it dawned on her.

Only _one_ person can smile like that.

She almost gasped when she saw the appearance of whisker like marks on both sides of his face.

"Hello, Sakura-chan!" Naruto's grin gave way to horror.

"Naruto…" An evil green aura surrounded Sakura. She started to crack her knuckles. People started staring. Tenten wisely backed off. Although running across the room to avoid the thrashing that was soon to come was a more suitable definition.

"I'm going to kill you!" She screamed. Naruto merely grinned that foxy grin of his.

"Can't kill wutcha can't catch!" With that, Naruto was nothing but a whirl of wind out the door, with Sakura hot on his trail.

"What's with them?" Mera asked.

Tenten shrugged. "Don't worry about it. They'll be back. They have to eat sooner or later."

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I LOVE ALL MY REVIEWERS. So much encouragement. But damn whoever reminded me of Hinata. I have no idea what to do with her yet. Someone asked for fluff. (Scratches head) I really don't know when that's going to happen..Please make note that this is my first EVER attempt at romance. So if things look odd, ..Sorry? Again thanks and much love to everyone who reviewed.


	3. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I do not own "Naruto"**

**Thank Yondaime-Hokage, the beta-reader. But people are whining that he's not doing that great of a job. Whatever. I'm working on it.**

**Sorry for the dry spell. To tell you the truth, I'm just damn lazy. I'll only write when the mood strikes me. If I write for any other reason, it won't be as good. So as a bit of a warning, and if you look at the dates between updates.. I write slow. **

**And yes I know I know, I think I illustrated Naruto _too_ powerful with his fight against Gaara. Though I'm a fan of Naruto, I will admit that Naruto's win through the fight was mostly luck and circumstance. Lucky that he had Gamabunta to help him, circumstance was that Gaara didn't have his protective sand to defend him. Happy? Jeez.**

Chapter 2

Jiraiya sprawled out on Tsunade's couch, lazily drinking wine. Tsunade was at her desk, also enjoying the new intoxicating drink. Rather than just gulping down something that was acidic and hot, wine held actual flavor.

"Jiraiya, this is really," She paused to take another sip, "Really good. Where in the world did you get this?"

Jiraiya grinned. "West. Extreme west. Thanks to Naruto, we were able to travel ten years worth of ground in a year."

"What?" Tsunade was more than confused to say the least.

Jiraiya looked a bit hesitant. "Our first month traveling together, I discovered Naruto had been speaking to the nine-tails."

She nearly spit her drink back out. Nearly. "What! What does he think he's doing talking to that _thing_?" _Oh God… where is this leading to.._

"With his life, which was crap to begin with, slowly falling apart... He began to feel inadequate and tried to get the demon to teach him, and then some. Or at least thats what I figured. I didn't catch it at first, but there were times he would just sit there for the longest time, with an almost meditative face. And when I'd ask him about it, he'd say its only been a few minutes when its actually almost an hour." Jiraiya said with a sour expression.

"Did he get .. _it_ .. to teach him anything?" Tsunade ventured, hoping it wasn't some apocalyptic type where the world would be in total chaos and what not.

"Naruto was able to get the demon into teaching him to create dimensional rifts. As long as he knows where he's going, he can rip a dimensional rift, walk through it and end up where he wants to. It even works just by looking at pictures."

For a feat for his student to accomplish, Jiraiya looked anything but proud. But, something was fishy.

"How long can he stay in the rift?"

He sat up, a forlorn expression on his face.

"Not long. The human body can't withstand being in the dimension for long. It slowly deteriorates. He was even able to manipulate it so that I can be with him."

"Jiraiya, cut the shit. What is wrong? Does this have anything to do with the fact that you came early?" Tsunade narrowed her eyes, practically glaring Jiraiya down.

He sighed. "Tsunade, do you realize how fragile he was _and_ still is?"

Tsunade blinked. She wasn't expecting that. "What are you talking about?" She was growing irritated.

"Tsunade..." Jiraiya was at a loss for words. He was lying to himself. If he told her, it would be the first time he admitted to himself even. "Naruto is ... Mentally ill. Perhaps that's too strong of a description. What do you call a person who might be the verge of destroying everything within a ten mile radius?"

Tsunade's glass fell and shattered on the floor. "What?" She whispered. It didn't make any sense...

"He looked perfectly fine when I saw him!" If this was some sort of joke, she was going to have Jiraiya's head on a platter.

Jiraiya exhaled slowly. "Tsunade, it took me almost a year to figure that out. With that damn facade he always puts up, I can barely read him. He isn't the type to wallow in depression or mope around. Acting the way he always has is second nature to him. You know the villagers treatment of the boy..."

Tsunade numbly nodded.

"But what I'm sure no one has yet to truly realize how Naruto felt. He's extremely unstable. Can you imagine hated from the day you are able to realize something as cold as that? I've spoken to Iruka many times about this before we left and recently. If Iruka hadn't finally acknowledged Naruto when he became a Genin, he would have snapped a long time ago. His mind is in pieces." Jiraiya paused, collecting his thoughts.

Tsunade just stared. She had always believed Naruto's inner strength would always preserve him. Jiraiya was bluntly throwing that out the window.

"Putting him into a team was one of the biggest mistakes Sarutobi-sensei has ever done. It would have been easier on him to send him away or something to distance himself from the people. But having teammates that to a point cared about him, Naruto learned exactly what he was missing. He considers his old team almost family, you know? Watching how normal people interact with each other, facing everyone's harsh treatment of him, it has been too much. He's young. No one should live like that. Now that Sasuke incident two years ago... Do you still have the report he gave you?"

Tsunade composed herself. "Yeah. Hold on a minute." Rummaging through the files, she pulled one out and unsealed it.

She handed it to him. "What's in there that you don't already know?"

Jiraiya ignored her and kept reading. He sighed. "It's just as I thought. Tsunade, this isn't what happened between Sasuke and him."

"What? Why would he lie?" She didn't want to believe _her_ Naruto would lie to her.

"He was betrayed by his only true friend. A warped sort of friendship, but still. He was in denial. When _that_ happened, it's when he almost lost it." Jiraiya's expression was almost dead. They both were disgusted about this subject.

Her eyes narrowed. "What really happened? According to the report, they traded a number of blows, Sasuke pulled out the curse seal, and the Rasengan and Chidori collided. Stalemate. Naruto said he couldn't fight anymore and passed out."

Jiraiya shook his head and pulled out one of his 'projector' type scrolls. "I read the report before, but at certain points in his murmurings, he said things that didn't add up. I finally got fed up and was able to pry this out of his mind while he was asleep. "

Everything was through Naruto's vision. There was sound in this one. Tsunade's temper flared at Sasuke's neglect for comrades. Sarcasm was one of her major pet peeves... Orochimaru used it far too much back in the old days. With the way Naruto spoke, she truly felt Sasuke would give and return home. But he didn't. Instead he Mocked and taunting him constantly. The little shit even had the nerve to spit on him.

"He called _this_ his best friend?" Tsunade was bewildered. _What the hell did Sakura see in him? Hell, his whole fan group in general!_

Jiraiya snorted. "Naruto was never really that bright."

Every thing happened just as he said, so far. Blow for blow, kick after kick. However, Naruto was taking more beatings than Sasuke. Kakashi personally trained Sasuke to build speed, after all. Naruto's legendary stamina came into good use though. It more or less evened out.

Tsunade watched in silent awe as two of some of the world's deadliest techniques came head to head with one another.

Rasengan and Chidori.

Surprisingly enough, it was a stalemate.

"Sasuke said he was his best friend, so why the hell would he try and kill him for? But with the direction he was aiming, he seemed to be focusing on the Rasengan, not specifically Naruto." She didn't really see what could have been the last straw of Naruto's sanity.

"Kakashi said he knew something, but I'll get back to him on that. Just keep watching. And besides, it _wouldn't_ have been a stalemate if he'd done it properly."

Tsunade gave him an odd look but ignored him.

Sasuke distracted Naruto with a fire technique that followed with a beating. What happened left Tsunade with her mouth gaping.

Sasuke, in the level one of the seal, almost pierced through Naruto's heart. Naruto avoided it, and got hit in his right lung instead.

"Oh my God…. I had no idea Sasuke went that far….Naruto…" Tsunade was not prepared for this. She knew Sasuke was traumatized, but was Sasuke insane just as well? The file on him stated therapy was cleared and though he would never heal from what Itachi did, he was healthy enough to go back to a somewhat normal life.

But there it was.

Kids.

Barely even _teens_! Attempting to murder someone who was supposedly your best friend.

And for what? Power? Revenge? It was all dim-witted. Absolutely fucking stupid.

She had always believed Konoha to be the only place in the world where things of the like could not happen. Yet, there it was, flashing before her eyes. Mocking her for a fool to believe otherwise.

"Sakura has always told me of his hate for Itachi... Does he realize he is no better than him? It makes no sense… Breaking bonds... Could he be trying to...?" She rubbed her temples. _Damn kids these days... Oh what the hell am I talking about... This happened two years ago!_

Jiraiya nodded. "I always believed the Mangekyou Eye was only passed on to certain individuals of the clans... But I guess the rumors were true… Achieving it can be through killing your best friend. I _really_ need to get back to Kakashi on that…"

"I always thought we were the most unique when it came to comrades suddenly betraying you, and yet... Naruto and Sakura's case is so much worse. They were only kids, and they didn't suspect a thing, nothing that would foreshadow this. Nothing they would know off anyway." Tsunade tried to ease the headache away as she talked. There were too many problems, and too little solutions.

"Yeah. I guess we had it easy. Orochimaru was always the weird one. When he left us, we were old and didn't really keep in touch that often anyway."

Tsunade nodded numbly. Looking back at the projection, she flinched as Sasuke pulled his hand out of Naruto's body. "How in the world did he survive? When he came back all he had were bruises and cuts. And those were already healing by the time he got here!"

"Just watch." She turned her attention back on the scroll.

She watched in awe when she saw the hole began to disappear, the blood sizzling to nothing. "He can regenerate that fast? Remarkable. He's just like Kabuto. No... Better." She muttered.

This time it was Sasuke's turn to be the rag doll being abused. She winced at the sound of flesh pounding flesh. After watching practically nothing but blurs, it stopped when Sasuke shouted at Naruto about not having anything. The pain of loosing a loved one; a pain in which Naruto is not yet experienced with. But Naruto softly spoke of the bonds he had made during his miserable amount of life.

Iruka, a father.

Sasuke, a brother.

If this was twenty years ago, Tsunade would have shed some tears. The next section was growing more horrifying by the minute...

Sasuke gaining his third pupil, looking far too much like Itachi for _anyone's_ good.

Catching glimpse of Naruto from the water, he taking more and more from the Kyubi, looking more feral and fighting practically on instinct alone.

Sasuke pulling from the seal, transforming into what looked like a demon from the depths of hell. A sickening looking creature, pale disgusting face, and even wings. The only things missing were some horns and a cattle prod.

_Orochimaru, you are one twisted soul, _they both thought.

The final clash was literally a boom. Through Naruto's vision, the flash was too bright to really make out anything clear. She could barely make out Sasuke's hand nearing Naruto's heart again as the Rasengan neared Sasuke's face.

Tsunade's eyes widened. "He couldn't do it... Naruto, after all that, after all Sasuke did, he couldn't do it. He pulled back power and stopped most of the individual spins within the Rasengan at the last second and just scraped the hitai-ate…" Jiraiya nodded.

"That demonic chakra, along with the multiple rotations within the Rasengan, it would have totally obliterated Sasuke's body. If didn't pull back at that last minute, Sasuke would have been nothing but a mangled corpse on the ground. The boy just doesn't have it in him to kill anyone, let alone a 'brother'. Sasuke must have had second thoughts as well. He didn't push the Chidori through. He just closed his fist and hit a pressure point to knock him out. Naruto saw that. That's probably why he thought Sasuke could still be saved. I figured it was a lost caused and tried to convince him other wise, but you know how stubborn he can be. After seeing that, I could at least understand his reasoning somewhat."

Tsunade laced her fingers, contemplating on Jiraiya's words. "He does realize that even if he does brings Sasuke back, he is going to be executed? There will be no trial. Betrayals are all treated that way. If he was two years younger I might have been able to do something…Hmm. Perhaps we could his his lineage as leverage.""

Jiraiya didn't really know what to say. He knew that could happen if they bring Sasuke back. But who knows what sort of condition Naruto will be after that?

"Still. That the amount of stamina that brat has is just inconceivable. Being drained of chakra for almost an hour from that fat sound-nin, performing several of the Rasengans, producing _that_ many clones against Kimimaru, and finally have an all out match with Sasuke? The mission might have been a success if he was fresh…"

Jiraiya let a low chuckle escape him. "The brat _does_ have an insane amount of stamina. And I'm not so sure anymore if it's really from Kyuubi."

She raised her eyebrows. Jiraiya cut her off.

"Don't worry about it... I'll have to do more research on it to prove it."

"So, how exactly _was_ he when you traveled?"

Jiraiya exhaled slowly. "What Sasuke could have done, if it weren't for his healing factor, didn't really affect Naruto till months into traveling. Nightmares, talking to no one… Sometimes he would totally be disconnected with his body. He'd just sit there, unmoving. It went as long as three days once. All this, eventually led him to try to talk to Kyubi. I was foolish. I didn't want to give him too much attention; trying to get him to grow up." Jiraiya stood up and walked over to the window.

"Leaving him to do business in the city... bad idea. I started to pay closer attention to him. More direct one on one teaching but it went worse over the year. Usually, spending time to yourself along with your master is supposed to help you relax your mind. It didn't work for him. However, his scrambled mind led him to do great things, Tsunade. His power, his skill, everything. But he acts like an utter moron so many times so I really have no clue how strong he really is, but after seeing him attack in sync with Kyubi, he could easily wipe out a third of Konoha. It's a good thing he doesn't know exactly how strong he is. It would probably go to his head. Being arrogant and insane is a gruesome mix." Jiraiya said wearily.

Tsunade shivered. "How was he right after you two left? Perhaps this betrayal is what drove him so far."

Jiriaya shook his head.

"Even before all that. He was a genius in his own right. The summoning technique for example; he managed to summon one of the lower levels in a month. It took _me _half a year to summon a lower level. It took Yondaime two months to get that far. Then his trick with the _Rasengan_! Who would have thought a _Kage Bunshin_ could have been _that_ useful? And yet he proves himself to be a complete idiot with hare brain schemes or tripping over his own toes if he's not careful!" Jiraiya held up his hands in mock defeat, failing to truly understand the blond.

"I guess its true then. The insane are always the most powerful." The words left a bitter taste in her mouth.

Jiraiya brightened a bit. "I wouldn't say so... I was thinking about bringing him back a year ago, but he found something that seemed to help him work even better." He snickered a little.

"What?" She was a little more than interested to find out what can help. Besides, if he snapped the village would probably be the first thing on Naruto's list. Konoha had enough problems already.

"Company." He turned from the window and beamed at her.

"What?"

"We encountered the sand siblings. You know them? Gaara, Temari, and Kankuro. You know that axiom you said? The insane are the most powerful? Naruto proved that dead wrong. With them around, his growth tripled. I spent even less time with him with them around but he still learned faster somehow. There was this trick I was teaching him with with power nullifiers. You have to learn to gather a certain amount of chakra or you can't move. Before then, he was making a decent pace of working with them. With this wind user and puppeteer started tagging along, he seemed to find motivation and nailed it easily. He even began to spar with that other container from Sand. When I decided it was time to go, his growth slowed down to his normal pace, slower even. I could tell he wasn't trying very hard. Still, him putting a little effort was more than when I was trying my hardest. That's when I decided to come back. If three people he barely knew could help him that much, how much more could be done with those he considers family? It's risky, with those who continue to treat him like some piece of trash…" Jiraiya felt frustrated to the core. He finally finds a suitable apprentice, and it turns out _that_ certain apprentice's sanity has been slowly ebbing away since a childhood from fools who couldn't find other ways to vent their miseries.

"How is he now?" She said, making a mental note to talk to the siblings later.

"His healing immediately stopped when they left, and started to revert to his old self. I tried to preoccupy his mind with grueling training. It worked, to some degree. But now, it's up to him. We can only pray that social interaction is key."

Jiraiya let himself a small laugh.

"Naruto is a people person. He can never live the life of a hermit."

Tsunade remained silent. Who would have thought that loud brat can have scars that run so deep? "I suppose, what really kept him sane, was the fact that he's so stubborn." She allowed a small smile crept its way on her young beautiful face.

"You could say that. He has a soft spot for women, you know? His consciousness just blatantly ignores them. Doesn't want to register them as a threat." Jiraiya chuckled. "A six year old girl can probably sneak up on him."

Tsunade had a good laugh with that one. "There are a lot of powerful kunoichi these days. He needs to be careful."

Jiraiya waved his left hand as if he was trying to bat a fly. "After staying here with _you_ for a good while, I'm sure he'll be normal."

"So," He continued since the mood seems to have lightened. He made a little dance in his head since he weaseled his way out of getting pummeled from his insult "How is your student?"

Tsunade was about to give him a nasty lump but decided to gloat about her student. She's had enough bad news in one day. "Well, at first I really didn't want to take her up as a student. To tell you the truth, she's fairly spoiled and selfish. But after goading from Kakashi and Naruto, I gave in. It wouldn't hurt to have another successor other than Shizune around anyway. Give her another year, and she'll be as good as a nin who went through the full course for medical school. And then some." She stated a bit proud.

Jiraiya nodded in approval. "How long is medical school now days, five, six years?"

"Seven." She answered.

Jiraiya whistled. "Her chakra control must be something to be admired."

"It is. She's very intelligent for someone her age. One of the few kids running around with book smarts. And her ability to deal with sealing techniques is remarkable as well." She paused looking a bit thoughtful. "Did you know she has the potential to have the brute strength equal to about half as strong as me in my prime? With proper supervision maybe more."

Jiraiya's eyes bugged out. _Half as strong in her prime? Jeez! Another Tsunade for the next generation... Man, perverts can never catch a break, now can we?_

Noticing that odd resentful/lecherous look in his eyes she tried to break him out of his reverie. "It seems the three of us has all received the most potential out of their generation then." She stated, a hint of resentment in the edge.

"So it seems…"

"Jiraiya," He looked at her.

"What?"

"This _entire_ time, you still haven't told me _what_ you're teaching him." She glared.

"I really didn't teach him all that much. More of just further improving his strength, speed, and stamina. And I was trying to drill military tactics in his brain. Not to mention roles specifically for war. Let me tell you something now, if you think he was hyperactive then, wait till you see him in action."

"That's all?" Tsunade hardly seemed impressed.

"I taught him a few moves, but.." He paused, seemingly lost his train of thought. "He developed this trick… In fact... I think you could call him a Kage Bunchan guru or something like that."

Tsunade raised her eyebrows.

"Believe me. You have to see it to believe it."

Before either could say anything more there were a series of loud explosions and crashes coming from the town.

"What the hell..." Jiraiya scanned the area from the window.

"Jiraiya, go see what the hell was that. I'll call the ANBU." Jiraiya nodded as he leaped through the window. They were over twenty stories high. She was worried for but a brief moment till she remembered both Orochimaru and him had a talent for manipulating the wind, enabling them near flight capabilities.

Going to her desk to buzz Shizune, she heard a scream. A familiar scream at that. Then another. She was definitely positive it was Sakura's scream of rage. Following that came a familiar howl of pain.

Tsunade chuckled. "So, she finally met Naruto then. No need for the ANBU..."

She walked towards the direction where Jiraiya had made his hasty exit and looked through the window, a hopeful smile on her face.

"Find your peace, Naruto."

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To say Naruto was scared would be equivalent to slapping mud in and outside of your home and say it was clean and new fresh way to express yourself.

Naruto wanted to shit his pants.

For some reason in which he didn't understand, he wanted to cry out to his mommy. A strange thought, he mused, he didn't even know exactly what it felt like to _have_ a mother. Back to the subject of his horror…

He didn't think Sakura could be this fast. Sure she probably would never catch him, but it was still close. Then there was her monstrous like strength.

_Damn obba-chan! Had to turn my Sakura-chan into a brute!_

He narrowly avoided a fist coming that in turn, demolished some poor innocent wall. Naruto cringed.

_That could have been me! _

He turned around and began to back peddle so he could reason his way out of meeting the pavement headfirst.

"Aw c'mon Sakura-chan! It's not like I did anything _wrong!_" He pleaded.

She ignored him and gave a rather acrobatic round house that he managed to hop over ungracefully.

People were already staring. Shinobi made no effort to move, seeing it was the Hokage's apprentice. After all, Tsunade's legendary temper was passed on to none other than Sakura. Who'd want to mess with that?

Most were too lethargic to do anything anyway. It was just one of those days.

As Naruto continued (and failed) at trying to calm the raging pink haired kunoichi, he had the misfortune (or fortune, depends on however you look at it.) to see a rather seductive civilian hottie walk outside her home in short shorts and a tank top. It didn't help that her bust could rival Tsunade's.

That was the very opening Sakura needed. With a conclusive cry, she gave him a nasty right hook that sent him flying across the street. He hollered all the way there.

A simple looking boy peered down at a smirking girl whose hand was entwined with his. His eyes were wide with terror.

"I told you all women have super human strength when pissed. That's why you should never cheat or do me wrong in anyway." She stated as if it was an obvious fact.

He nodded numbly.

"Now c'mon! I saw this cute outfit at the mall!" She was practically skipping.

Pray for the poor soul.

wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww

Back at the party, if _any_ guy, that met Sakura's standards of 'agreeable' she would have accepted the breakfast, lunch, or dinner offer. The truth was, the only reason she ended it with Lee was because she felt and _knew_ she didn't deserve someone as passionate as him. So after almost two years of turning guys down and wallowing in self-pity, "David" was like a kick in the rump to move on in life. But at the café, it went down like a bag of bricks.

She really shouldn't have been surprised. Her thought's focus after the party was on Naruto after all. Really now, how many people in the village were blond haired and blue eyes? In a population of over five hundred thousand, there was practically none. Of course, when compared to other blond haired blue eyes, Naruto stood out. His eyes were so captivating. It held a sense of confidence yet child like innocence.

But she hated to be tricked, she despised it. That could be in part to her parents who lied repeatedly to her about the real ways of the world. To sum it up, she only recently found about the falsehood of the tooth fairy when she was nearing graduation from the Academy. She was finally going to open herself to someone and it turns out to be none other than Naruto. The turmoil within Sakura's mind was interesting to say the least.

"Okay, why are we chasing him and wasting all this energy again?" Asked the Sakura most people are attuned to seeing.

But at the helm of the body, it was none other than the infamous Inner Sakura pulling the strings.

"Are you shitting me? This is _Naruto_! That ugly mutt! He fucken' changed his appearance just to get into your pants!" She screamed.

Sakura sighed. She had long ago accepted that she was weird and would live with the fact that she had a split personality. But still, Inner Sakura more than not, tended to be more emotional and exaggerated things.

"Would you just stop and use your brain for just one second, Saky? The only thing Naruto altered was his whisker marks. He's hot because he _is. _And beating him unconscious isn't what we intended to do with him, remember? We still have to have _that_ conversation with him."

This was the only argument Sakura had ever won. Most of the time, Inner Sakura a.k.a. Saky, had more influence. Sure Sakura was always polite and nice on the outside, but Saky had been the one to make the more important decisions.

But, for the first time in years, rationality won over, though a bit late, having knocked Naruto in the face already. Anyway, Sakura found herself walking side by side with Naruto towards the deserted café. Looking over to him she roughly calculated that she was probably an inch taller than him. She snickered.

"Hmm?" Naruto looked at her.

"Eheh... Nothing..." she said, waving both her hands dismissively. He didn't buy it, but let it go all the same.

They didn't speak much during the walk. But it was comfortable. Sakura almost believed it was just like the old days. Of course, it wasn't. Though she could never hate Sasuke, she was frustrated with him for practically destroying her childhood. Sure she wasn't all that old yet, but those earlier years were supposed to be the best period of your life. Yet, hers was filled with rejection, false hope, and ultimately, betrayal.

She felt so foolish. Who wouldn't? When having wasted so much of your youth on someone unreachable? She looked at Naruto again.

He had that same cocky, but _not_ arrogant, grin plastered on his face. She gave a pleasant sigh. At least Naruto didn't turn out to be a cold jerk over the two years.

"So Naruto, how in the world did you meet Tenten of all people?" That really was nagging her. Even while she was chasing his ass halfway across town.

Naruto gave short laugh. "It was sort of weird. I kind of gave Lee some liquor at the party last night..."

Sakura raised her eyebrows. Ino told her earlier in the morning what happened. It didn't sound like it was only "some".

"Okay I gave him a lot. Neji, Shikamaru, and Chouji did this weird formation to take him out. By that time I had already ushered out most of the people except Tenten, who was totally hammered and knocked out cold on the floor. Neji told me to take her home and then they ran off."

"You're lucky Tsunade-sama didn't find out. She made a law against him drinking and there's a nasty punishment for _anyone_ who lets him drink." She stifled a laugh thinking of the last poor fool who allowed Lee to gulp down a few pints.

"Well, lets just keep it on the hush hush, okay? Everyone else is.." He smiled pleadingly.

She exhaled and waved a hand at him in annoyance. "Whatever."

wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww

When Sakura and Naruto finally walked into the café, Tenten was _not_ expecting to see Naruto to look like someone had punched him a _week_ ago. That mark was definitely _not_ there when he ran out giggling like some random schoolgirl. Her experience with bruises and cuts (mostly from Lee's earlier Genin days) were acute. Lee would have the same sort of mark after a rather nasty blow from Neji after if not days, but weeks.

_How did he get a mark like that so quickly?_

Of course, you can't call Tenten dumb; she's fairly smart. Getting a brief flashback from the Chunin Exams, she clearly remembered Naruto healing from various scratches and bruises acquired from Neji.

_Fast healer… I should ask about that later…_

"I take it that things went well, Naruto-kun?" She snickered.

Naruto took up an annoyed expression but failed and smiled instead. "Sakura-chan is the one who blew her lid over something so weird."

Sakura proceeded to smack up upside his head. "Can we just eat? Kakashi-sensei said since your back, you might as well come along with us on missions. I do _not_ want to be hungry during a mission."

"Brain damage! Erk.. Missions?" He went silent for a brief moment. "Yeah.. I still need to collect my pay for various stuff I did while I was away." He scratched his chin, apparently in deep thought.

Tenten raised an eyebrow. "You did missions while you were gone?"

"Of course. It's not like ero-sennin let me mooch off him for free. Which reminds me… Um…"

Sakura groaned. "Don't tell me you're broke…"

He grinned and scratched the back of his head. Before he could get grilled, the waitress from before came back.

"Should I wait or take your order now?" She asked with the typical waitress smile.

"Now would be good. Our blond idiot --_Naruto pouted_-- here wants the lunch special, and I'll have my usual." Sakura came here often. It was close to the tower where she would train with either Shizune or Tsunade herself, and it was fairly close to home. A perfect in-between.

She glanced at Tenten.

"I've never been here before, so I don't know what's good." She was a bit flustered. She was hungry after all.

"Ah... Mera, can we get a menu?"

"What the hell? How come I didn't get a menu?" Note that Naruto muttered all that. Sakura heard anyway.

"Idiot, I'm the one who's paying for _your_ meal. Tenten is responsible enough to pay for herself."

"Eh… Heh…" Same idiotic grin on his face, scratching his head.

"I wouldn't mind if I paid for him, Sakura. I owe him anyway," Tenten proposed.

Sakura shook her head with a smile. "He's my teammate. I'll pay."

Mera came back and handed Tenten the menu. "Here you go. If you have any questions just ask. Oh, Sakura, what do you want to drink?" She said turning to look at Sakura.

"Water would be fine."

Mera directed her stare at Naruto. "You?"

Before he could answer, Sakura cut him off. "Water."

Mera and Tenten let themselves a little laugh at the pouting blond complaining about wanting something sweet to drink.

"Regular tea would be fine for me. And I think number 4 would be nice."

When the food arrived, Naruto couldn't complain. It was a two-foot long, four inches wide, and three inches tall sandwich. He was fairly quiet during the meal, a great feat, for someone like him.

It turns out, Sakura and Tenten had ordered the same thing, which lead to a pleasant conversation between the two of them, with Naruto throwing in a comment or two. Time flew by before it was time for Sakura and Naruto to meet up with Kakashi.

As the two walked out Sakura didn't notice the jealous stare from Tenten, nor did Naruto notice the heated glares from the male occupants of the room for eating with arguably the village's most untouchable kunoichi.

Wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww

"C'mon Sakura! You act as if Kakashi-sensei will be there on time or something. From what I've heard, he's been doing that even before we were his team. I doubt two years will change that sort of habit."

One half of team seven stood at the same exact place from years ago. Same logs, same memorial. Same loud, overly annoying, yet cute blond brat complaining.

Sakura frowned.

"That's not the point. As his subordinates, we should always respect a direct order. Besides, why do you think he always shows up two to three hours late all the time?"

Her arms were crossed as if to say she knew and is wondering when the blond idiot would figure it out.

Naruto was clueless. He never did wonder _why_ their infuriatingly late sensei never wanted to show up on time.

"Uh… You know... I really don't know..."

Sakura slumped at the response. She was hoping maybe he knew.

It was only a mere thirty minutes later that Naruto started fidgeting. The heat was almost unbearable. The sun was already above them, leaving hardly any shade left for the pair to stay cool in.

"Oi, Sakura." Naruto grunted from his position on the ground.

"Yes?" A half-hearted reply came.

"Want to have a quick spar?" Truth be told, he sounded hopeful. Then again, anything seems better than just sitting here for who knows how long.

"Spar?" She really didn't feel like it. It was too damn hot.

"I think we should. If we're going to work as a team it would be better if we already had a feel to our different fighting styles. I'm sure we both changed over the past two years."

Sakura pondered the blond's wise words. The old Naruto would have never of thought of that. Perhaps all the rumors about Jiraiya really were _that_ exaggerated. It was only when the two found a clearing not to far away when she started to get nervous.

The old Naruto was powerful. Though he may lack the finesse and an intellectual capacity like the caliber of Kakashi or Neji, but when in need he was able to perform plans that could rival the top geniuses.

Naruto settled into a stance unfamiliar to Sakura. Her anxiety was almost nerve racking now. If Jiraiya not only polished Naruto's brain, who knows what he could have done to Naruto in terms of power? Earlier, when she was chasing Naruto, she had hit him with enough force to knock off his head, but he only walked away with a bruise. And that hit was only managed because he was distracted! Scrutinizing his face further, the bruise was already gone.

That actually didn't bother her. Naruto always had been an abnormally fast healer.

Sakura shook her head and began to concentrate on the task at hand.

They locked eyes and as the wind blew several stray leaves by, Naruto's stern face of concentration reverted to a grin.

"Let's see if the old hag can teach!"

Still reeling from the second insult of her master, she ogled at the two clones that just popped into existence. The odd thing was, Naruto hadn't done any seals, or at least none that she saw. He didn't even twitch. How fast were his hands? Then again, she had been distracted when he insulted Tsunade, and the _Kage Bunshin_ only took one seal…

The clones rushed her and barely managed to avoid punches and kicks thrown her way. She was fairly surprised to find the clones actually coordinating together and using actual fighting techniques rather than just blindly rushing in as a decoy. They were fighting as if they were supposed to finish her off. Naruto, hell, people in general, typically used the clones as a distraction. She oddly noted that when one of the punches or kicks would miss from the clone attacking her from the right, she wouldn't feel a whiplash from the wind. However, with the intensity of the clones, it was filed to the back of her mind.

_Damn Jiraiya-sama,_ she thought bitterly.

Fingering a couple of kunais she jumped backwards and threw them at the clones. They abruptly paused in their assault to avoid getting impaled, creating the opening Sakura needed. At the exact moment she landed back on the ground she lunged forward to backhand the clone closest to her. In the brief interlude from stepping forward to hitting the clone, she caught a good glimpse of Naruto.

She was expecting him to be preparing a jutsu - _anything_, really. Not just standing there and intently watching her duke it out with the clones. He actually seemed to be observing her, just like he said. She idly noted that she hadn't really seen him in action yet.

A gasp of surprise escaped Sakura's lips as her hand went right through the clone instead of smacking it out of existence.

_Bunshin!_ She berated herself in her mind. How could she have been so careless? And they say her Genjutsu and analytical skills were top notch. Still, that was why it didn't effect the environment around her.

She almost lost her footing so she rolled to not make herself a fool to fall. Glaring at Naruto, who was no doubt fighting to urge to smirk, Sakura sprinted towards him. She forgot about the other clone, though. That one was real.

With a resounding crack, the clone's fist met Sakura's jaw. Fortunately, she twisted her body to absorb part of the rather ferocious blow. She lashed out with a kick to its abdomen. Instead of puffing out of existence, it was merely knocked into a tree with a loud grunt.

Sakura almost groaned in frustration. She may have finally dealt a blow to Naruto, it was the fact that he kept tricking her with clear and thoughtful tactics, _that_ was extremely annoying. And here she thought he would remain her only constant in life. Just got too damn tricky and smart.

As Naruto was composing himself after getting knocked into the tree, Sakura rushed the clone that was still observing her every move. The clone raised its eyebrows at the upcoming kunoichi once again, without moving, not even a twitch, two more copies popped into existence.

Startled, Sakura briefly paused towards her destination. She had never really seen _Kage Bunshins_ do any sort of chakra techniques. Another fact filed to the back of her mind.

One of the clones leaped up into the air towards her while the other kept running low near the ground. Getting a tad frustrated, she burst forward in speed she hadn't used yet, surprising the clone coming from the sky. She elbowed it to the ground and landed a heel on head of the one on the ground.

She landed in a defensive crouch and looked over her shoulder to view her handy work. Her eyes narrowed at the scene.

Instead of just seeing Naruto and the clone she left untouched, there were still four of them. The copies she had just hit, rather hard, were just getting up. This time, the one observing her had a very smug look on his face.

"C'mon, Sakura…" He drawled, smirking. "Takes more than _that_ to take out my _bunshins_."

Then it all came crashing on her. The oddly powerful clones, and exactly _what_ Naruto was doing the whole time.

"Are you telling me.." She let it linger in the air. He had really played her like a fool this time. It was hard enough just saying _that._

"Yeap. Didn't move at all." Naruto was clearly pleased with himself.

"Fine." She stated oddly, as if to say 'on to plan B'.

Pulling out a kunai, she nicked herself on her thumb and drew a small amount of blood; launched out several shurikens and kunais at the clones and Naruto. While the clones were preoccupied, she began a few familiar seals before slamming her hand on the ground.

Naruto knew what she was doing, he probably should have stopped it, since its going to make the fight harder, but he needed some fun after all.

After the trademark smoke cleared, a decent sized slug appeared next to the pink-haired kunoichi.

It was a slimy blue, half laid on the ground, and its upper body almost reaching Sakura's height. The beady eyes were focused on the clones and Naruto.

It had an annoyingly normal voice, in which Naruto pondered on why it sounded so much like Shizune on a sugar high…

"Oi, Sakura-chan. Hey! Who… Is that the blond boy...? What's his face... Naruto? YEAH. Naruto!"

Naruto raised an eyebrow, while the clones took defense positions.

"Yeah, Riku. But we're having a little match right now so could you try and take out those clones?" She gestured towards the one she recently hit, and the one that she laid her heel on. "They are impossibly stronger than normal _Kage Bunshins,_ so be cautious."

With a weird slug-like nod, it moved oddly fast (for a slug) towards Naruto's two frontal clones. As the clones prepared to counter, the slug split itself into two separate slugs and launched at its own targeted clone, spitting acid at them in the process. The two dopplegangers screamed and finally popped out of existence.

Meanwhile, Sakura was going at it with the remaining clone, the one she had knocked into the tree. She was hoping she would be able to over power at least one clone, but apparently, Naruto was by far more powerful than her. Perhaps not in the physical sense, but his skill and speed that he was finally starting to display was making her feel like she was slowly flapping her arms around.

Naruto, who was more than surprised at how fast his lavish clones were destroyed, finally decided to step in. Using the fox's ability and pulling some of its chakra, warped to the first split slug he saw, reappeared besides it, and delivered a sharp kick, puffing it out. Before the other one realized what just happened, it too was puffed out, the last image was seeing Naruto's head crashing hard onto its own head.

Sakura finally finished charging the electrical sparks around her hands and with a smirk, slapped the clone. Not very hard, a fly would have survived a hit like that, but it was the tendrils of electricity that did it. Obviously.

It popped at the same time as Riku.

Naruto gazed at Sakura appraisingly.

"Not bad Sakura." He paused, as all his memories of Tsunade fighting flooded back to him.

"You fight a lot like Tsunade though. But I'd say you used your brain a bit more than she ever cared to."

Sakura twirled a kunai on her index finger.

"I suppose." She retorted in a strange sweet voice.

Before he could say anything else, she threw the kunai and rushed him.

_She really likes to do that, _he thought, snickering.

He grabbed the kunai from the air and flung it back at her. Surprisingly, she didn't try to evade it and Naruto groaned. It was a normal _bunshin._ Naruto pondered on when she made the switch, when the ground beneath him erupted.

He quickly jumped into the air to avoid all the dirt and what not thrown everywhere.

"Damn, Sakura! There's no need to destroy the wildlife!" He yelled while landing on one knee.

Amongst all the rubble and dirt, Sakura was amazingly clean. The joys of being a nin.

She smiled impishly and shook her head. Her growing frustration with Naruto was mind numbing! She was going all at it and has yet to even manage a finger on him. And for the most part, he was just playing around. The clone couldn't count, since it wasn't the real deal, and though he hadn't touched her either, she knew she had left loads of openings that he didn't take full advantage of.

And then those _bunshins_ of his! Who knows what sort of damage he could cause if he wanted to. She repressed a shudder.

_I wonder if his bunshins can do jutsus..._ She thought idly.

Naruto suddenly darted towards her, throwing her off with surprise. As she was readying herself for the upcoming onslaught, she heard two distinctive pops.

Naruto had once again pulled his "I can make a clone with just standing there" trick and she should have expected it. Sadly, she didn't.

The two clones grabbed an arm each and attempted to hold her still.

Sakura pondered on why Naruto would even bother. She could rip the clones off her like paper. Perhaps he was planning something.

Sakura was rather far from the truth.

Forming and sending off clones was almost instinctive for the blond, working on them so constantly it wasn't really a surprise for him nor was it for Jiraiya. He was actually distracted from the feeling of dread of what was behind Sakura. Or put correctly, what was lacking behind her.

They were fighting off a steep hill, and Sakura's back was toward it. But by the time he figured that out, he was already a foot away from Sakura.

Sakura, finally catching his surprised expression hastily threw the two clones, landing God knows where. But it was by far, too late.

Naruto crashed into her, flying off the hill, both their arms and legs dangled spinning out of control. When they finally started to hit the slope, they were rolling, too disoriented to do anything otherwise.

Somehow, Naruto landed on top of her, arms on both sides of her torso.

Sakura astonishingly giggled. Naruto snorted a chuckle. Soon both were laughing hysterically in the same position the whole time. But then the raging teen hormones started to kick in.

Naruto really looked at her for the first time he came back to Konoha. No longer did she wear idiotic colors that would foil her attempt to blend into the environment easily. Her shorts were gone, replaced by sturdy black pants with the standard pouch of supplies. The top she was wearing was of simple design with a stylish blend of black and white. Her short pink hair grew back out, but never got in the way since it was tied in a strict ponytail.

Her eyes were still that remarkable green he always remembered. Her face had seemingly left behind the child like innocence it once held.

It seems Sasuke's absence made a better impact than what Naruto supposed.

He felt his childlike emotions for his first crush coming back with a vengeance; the fact that he was so close to her didn't help matters.

Sakura was still laughing when Naruto kissed her. Oddly enough, instead of pulling back, she responded quite passionately. She wrapped an arm around his neck and let her free hand comb through his wild, golden hair.

And for the first time in years, Sakura and Naruto were relaxed.

**I know what you're thinking. But it's not going in the direction you think it's going. I still pretty much loathe Sakura anyway. Besides, I still need to develop Naruto's emotions towards Tenten anyway. Right now, he's only attracted because of her looks and openness with him. I'd rather have it go much deeper than that. But yes, I'm so damn impatient with the relationship myself; I've already started other projects.. too…erm.. adult-type-stuff. Heh.**

**Update quicker? Cutting chapters? Well… I would do that.. But its not that writing a lot takes a long time, cause the last chapter believe it or not, took me three days to write, while the first chapter took me a month. Chapter two is at a mother load of 10k plus words. It all comes down to writers block and stuff. Besides, sometimes when I go back and read something it sounds utterly stupid and I'll change it, or maybe I want to add something. Sorry but I'll be taking my time.**

**About the story in general… Well I have full access to all the current running of the manga, but I had a big plot and what not all before it. The manga... I'm just going to be using it as a reference. Besides... I haven't really enjoyed where Kishimoto and his staff are making the series running towards anyway. Whenever I finish this.. The only things I'll probably ever write are AU's or grown up fics. I have a particularly lemony fic brewing up for Naruto and Anko.. (snickers) He's older of course. So, if you want to check it out, its in my profile.**

**-Chakra handcuffs- OMG. Genkai's thing for Yusuke! Maybe that's where I got it. Never really was sure. It was all spontaneous thinking. **

**-Naruto's dimension thingy- Actually, I was really leaning toward what "Dave-d" had been going for in Where Eagles Dare. But mine works out much different. When I was writing this, it was all before the Kakashi-gaiden thing. As you can see, I really planned ahead before I posted everything.**


	4. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer:** Does not own Naruto and other related .. Stuff.

**Author's Notes:** For all you NaruSaku lovers.. **D-sama** summarized everything I'm going to do with her and Naruto with one simple word. Fling. That's right a fling. Nothing more, nothing less. I don't really understand how you people could even ask that. In the summary its specifically says NaruTen or NaruTem. I even said I hated Sakura in the last chapter. Though, with that last scene, I probably threw you guys into a whack, huh? I hope I haven't deterred any readers because of that.. but a lot of the general populace of fan fiction just isn't realistic. I'm a teenager myself. And I certainly don't see _anyone_ going out with just one person throughout high school. I'm so tired of these looser-like individual who can't see a character with another character because it's supposedly against "cannon". Just what the fuck is cannon? SasuSaku? SasuIno? And I figured out what I'm doing with Hinata. Nothing. That's right. Nothing. She probably won't even make an appearance in this story. Okay.. That's an exaggeration but you get the point.

And sorry if all the character interaction seems dry or boring. I just can't write those out all that good.

**Warning:**Um. What certain characters say does not necessarily portray my thoughts on said subject.

_Last chapter_

" _Sakura was still laughing when Naruto kissed her. Oddly enough, instead of pulling back, she responded quite passionately. She wrapped an arm around his neck and let her free hand comb through his wild, golden hair._

_And for the first time in years, Sakura and Naruto were relaxed."_

Chapter 3

What attracts people towards one another can be a very fickle thing. Pre-teen girls normally drooled at the more mature males. Hell, most women do. They wanted them to be serious, intelligent, and of course, powerful. Well, except for the few exceptions that immediately falls for the underdog.

But those were some of the main reasons many growing kunoichi felt so drawn to mister dark and brooding Sasuke. Obviously. And the fact that Sasuke rose to the expectations, it made him appear even more attractive than he already was. It's a psychological thing, really.

Take Naruto for example. You couldn't exactly call him ugly. He would claim to be the most lovable and adorable shinobi around, but no one tends to listen to him anyhow. But many females would feel no attraction towards him because of his loud and brash behavior. The fact that he appeared to be weak because of his poor marks didn't help much either.

He was seen as immature. And once the female minds tags that to his description, their mind warps his appearance somewhat, making him seem ugly.

If you were to switch Naruto's and Sasuke's bodies, females would still be drawn to Sasuke, despite looking like Naruto. It's the character and first impressions that count. Naruto's character was childish, and his joy for pranks and jokes just wrote him off the list of the desirables.

These were the thoughts swimming in Haruno, Sakura's large brain. Though she chuckled at the thought of Sasuke attempting to do Naruto's Sexy no jutsu.

But, her life would have been happier if she had developed her puppy love with anyone else. _Anyone._ Shikamaru, or even that quiet cute kid who always sat in the back.

If she wasn't so stuck up on Sasuke, her friendship with Ino could have been deeper than what it was.

If she wasn't so stuck up on Sasuke, her Genin days would have been _so_ much more enjoyable.

She could blame Sasuke, but that would do her no good. Even Sasuke had told her to take a nin's life more seriously. She hadn't.

She had no one to blame but herself. But alas, that is the first step to change. Admit the problem and take responsibility.

So here she was, flat on her back, in a very compromising position with Naruto.

It wasn't too uncomfortable, she supposed. She could have done worse; in fact, she didn't think she could do better.

His face finally grew up, leaving the entire amount of baby fat it held behind. Instead of round, it was hard and chiseled. He was definitely a little more than cute.

And he was powerful. Almost ridiculously powerful. Every little plan, every little trick she learned and used, it was nothing to Naruto.

Even if she'd known about his peculiar clones, there wasn't much she could have done anyway. And the fact that he was holding back so much pretty much shattered any amount of pride in her progress over the years.

Still, it didn't hurt her that much, considering it was Naruto and all. He wouldn't gloat about something and throw it in your face later. He's simply not the type to do that.

With all that said, Sakura nearly pulled her hair out.

_What is fucking wrong with you!_

Inner Sakura had been rather quiet as of late, but with today's turn of events, the Inner Sakura was annoyed as hell.

_I stay quiet for two bloody years for you to get over yourself, and when finally someone _perfect _comes in your life, you're not fucking attracted!_

"_This coming from a person who just several hours earlier was trying to persuade me that he's a sick little man whore?" _Sakura was more than annoyed with Saky's erratic behavior.

Inner Sakura continued to rant while Sakura practically poured her soul into the kiss.

Her hands were roaming all over his body. And despite him having a firm body, along with a nice rump, she just couldn't, _enjoy_ herself.

She suckled his lower lip and invaded his mouth. His mouth tasted familiar but she was too busy wrestling with his tongue to pin point it.

"_Oh my God.." _The actual Sakura began. Her voice was shaking so much Inner Sakura actually stopped cursing. "_Do you think.. I could be.."_

Inner Sakura's eyes widened and immediately strangled Sakura. There's a sight for you.

_Don't you dare say it! You say it I swear I'll kill you! _Inner Sakura raged.

"_Don't- be so delusional!"_ She mentally sputtered for a moment, being strangled in real life and in her own mind was equally dangerous. She hardly noticed when her body moaned from Naruto's ministrations.

"_It's obvious! Why else would I feel absolutely nothing towards a person like him?" _What had started out as a loud retort, finished in a hoarse whisper.

Inner Sakura crawled off her counter part, crossing her arms and looking away, clearly miffed.

_Fine. Be a bloody dyke. See if I care. _That was the first time Inner Sakura had used a volume of voice that wouldn't break sound barriers. But with that tone like that, Sakura wished she had yelled instead.

With that, Inner Sakura promptly shoved Sakura out of her corner of the mind, throwing her back into reality without warning. From a dark room with hazy white lines, to flat on your back on the ground with Naruto right on top of you, it wasn't an ideal situation that one would be comfortable in. It wasn't that she was completely unaware when talking to her counterpart, but it was enough to surprise the hell out of her when Saky booted her into the real world.

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Naruto was more or less enjoying himself. One does not get into a position like that and not get his blood pumping to the nether regions. It was just a normal guy thing. And Sakura's hands were wild, pinching and groping whatever she could. And when she invaded his mouth it got even hotter.

Her mouth held the distinct flavor of gum. Some sort of mint, but all that didn't matter.

He broke the kiss before tracing kisses from her rear jaw line to her chin, then finally going down and licking gently around her throat. It was all instinct for him. He felt like he was doing something right. When she moaned it urged him even more.

Right at that particular moment, everything was put into prospective. Sort of.

So the majority of the village didn't like him, which resulted in such a rotten childhood that it's a wonder he wasn't insane. Big deal.

Who cares that his supposed closest friend finally _said_ they were friends, but then proceeded to try and almost succeeded in killing him. It happens. Well, not really, but he always knew Sasuke had more than his share of screws loosed.

And what if there were a group of nine preposterously powerful idiots trying to get him for what was sleeping deep inside him. He could always warp his ass out of there.

But the moment was killed. That happens when said girl suddenly gasps and shrieks as if you're taking advantage of her, sputtering your name as if she's afraid you'll rape her.

Naruto immediately sprang off her and stood up, observing her wearily.

What was it? Is she still clinging to her childhood crush on Sasuke? Using him as a replacement? Fell into her own self-delusion of Naruto is Sasuke and finally broke out of it and is now more than a little disgruntled that its just _him_?

Naruto frowned. He just can't catch a break. His stress was growing and turned into a mind-numbing headache now.

Everything was rushing back to him.

The village.

Sasuke.

The threat of a bunch of powerful freaks after his hide.

_There's no peace for me!_

So much for putting your problems in perspective. He exhaled slowly. He didn't want to hurt her in his state of frustration..

But rejection, even in small ways, hurt.

He shifted his focus back to Sakura who was slowly getting up. She looked a little flush and looked very apologetic.

"Naruto.. I-" Whatever she was about to say, it was cut off by Naruto.

"It's fine, Sakura." He sighed. He had half a mind to just yell at her, but that wouldn't do _either_ of them any good. "I was just caught up in the moment, yah know? I didn't really mean for it to go that far."

"It's not-" He cut her off again by raising his hand.

"It's fine. Don't worry about it." Naruto's voice was stern and left no room for opposition. Highly uncharacteristic of him. It unnerved Sakura enough that she couldn't get a thought in otherwise. He knew he was being stubborn by not listening, but at the moment, he just didn't give a damn.

He walked off disappearing into the woods, totally forgetting that he was supposed to stay and wait for Kakashi. He listened to the leaves crunching under his sandals only to hear another set behind him. He only passed a few more trees when he turned around and noticed Sakura tried to follow him. Her mouth was moving but he didn't hear anything.

Strange. He sighed again, but had an idea to keep him busy and warped straight into Tsunade's office.

Looking around, it was odd that Tsunade wasn't around. Hell, he couldn't even sense that many people in the building altogether.

_Where is everyone?_

He shrugged it off and lounged in her chair. It was pretty damn comfortable. He could understand why people sometimes complained on how often she slept at the desk.

Looking around at her desk he noticed two pictures.

One was Tsunade with two other guys. One of them looked very young, almost like when he was a young brat. It didn't occur to Naruto that his era of being a useless brat was merely two years ago.

The other was a rather handsome man with a lighter tone of sliver hair than Kakashi's. His hair was long and was allowed to hang freely.

They seemed to be standing at the railing of the Hokage monument, Tsunade and the man standing side by side, each holding the kids shoulder.

He suddenly remembered who they were. It was Dan and Tsunade's little brother. Naruto couldn't remember his name because she never gave him one. It peeved him a little, but couldn't exactly complain. If she didn't want to tell him her brother's name, then so be it.

It was like a happy little family. _Her_ happy little family, till they were both killed in a stupid war.

Feeling a little depressed at the picture, he tore his eyes away from it to look at the other one. This one he was more than familiar with. He even had one in his bag somewhere at home.

It was he, Jiraiya, Tsunade, and Shizune during their excursion back to Konoha to have Tsunade as the new Hokage.

Shizune had an arm around his neck; both were smiling happily at the camera. Like normal people should.

But Tsunade and Jiraiya was a different story. At the time, Jiraiya was ogling at some girl and Tsunade told him to stop being an idiot and smile at the camera.

The cameraman ended up taking the picture while Tsunade was strangling the hermit.

Jiraiya asked to redo it, but the three of them agreed and said they liked it the way it was.

Naruto grinned fondly at the memory.

That one whole trip back was almost more endearing this his whole time with team seven.

With them he wasn't constantly trying to get attention. With them he wasn't ridiculed or ignored. Let alone getting killed.

It was like a long over due vacation for him.

Leaning back into the chair, he continued to reminisce all the good times he had. His experience with Iruka, and he made note to visit him sometime soon, the _pleasant_ times with team seven, that small fraction of a month with Tsunade and the gang, and of course his little burst of adventure with the sand siblings.

Who could forget the time they made actual friends? The relationship between team seven was forced. If they were never on a team, Sakura would still be his distant crush. And he and Sasuke would have never really spoken to each other.

With the sand siblings it was so much different.

He didn't have to prove anything. Though, he _did_ prove a lot by knocking some sense into Gaara. The base of the relationship might have been fueled a bit my awe and heroism, but with him younger than them and him not being a cocky little dick, getting along with them was easy.

Especially Temari. What can one expect? Spending months with a particularly lovely looking woman, you can't help _but_ grow fond of her. Even if she was quick with a mouth and could literally knock up winds that'll blow your ass sky high.

She wasn't like many typical females. She didn't waste precious hours of the morning to look nice or try to appease anyone. She just did what was necessary.

Kankuro was.. Well.. Naruto didn't know how to explain him. He was a mean bastard and Naruto didn't like him much from that one experience with him before the Chuunin Exams. But they got used to each other, and despite Kankuro being older and supposedly more "mature", he was the one who advised Naruto in doing over half of the crap they pulled.

Childish, but that didn't bother him much.

Then there was Gaara. He wasn't as cold as before, but you wouldn't openly hug him without risking loosing a few limbs.

Somehow, Gaara even knew of the Kyuubi. Naruto questioned him on but responded rather vaguely.

"_Its obvious, you blond fool."_

He didn't mind Gaara knowing though. After all, he knew of Shukaku. But he just had to tell Temari. Naruto was worried about her avoiding him because of Kyubi, but his worries were cast to rest when she smiled and said there was nothing to worry about. Naruto continued to just sit there. Not exactly doing or even thinking about anything in particular.

But what he did with Sakura just minutes ago sprang up. Even though it felt like someone stabbed him when it seemed like she realized she didn't want to be kissing him, he felt a little better. He dreamed of her the first few months with Jiraiya. And now that his childhood fantasy has been made into reality, he felt that he could move on.

Move on and accept the fact that no one will ever be his.

Putting that extremely depressing thought aside, it just hit him that he was in the Hokage's office without supervision. An office that was full of files of answers to questions that were burning in his head ever since Sasuke first spoke of wanting to kill someone.

He began rummaging through the shelves with a new goal in mind.

The Uchiha massacre.

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Sakura should have expected him to be upset. With her reaction of being thrown out of her own mind, she would have been hurt too. But he wouldn't let her explain. He was being so stubborn. And oddly scary.

When he started to walk into the forest, she followed yelling and hollering at him with the intent to smack some listening skills through that thick skull of his, but he didn't seem to hear and vanished somehow. Not a trace of him anywhere.

Was he really that fast?

No. But she doesn't know that. It suddenly dawned on her that they were supposed to waiting for Kakashi at the clearing. A burst of anger seeped through her emotions at the repeatedly tardy Jounin. This whole mess was rooted at _him._ If he had _bothered_ to come on time for once, she wouldn't have sparred with Naruto. She wouldn't have ended up playing with Naruto's tongue. She wouldn't have..

She shook her head as she climbed the hill. Her conversation with her alter ego still rang through her mind.

Kakashi wasn't the problem. Okay that's going too far, he's still a big part of this.

"Yo." An aloof greeting rang before her.

Speak of the devil.

"Ka-ka-shi-_sensei." _Sakura uttered through clenched teeth.

Kakashi stepped back and blinked. Giving her a good look over, he noticed the clenching and un-clenching of the hands, there was a vain on the side of her forehead on the verge of popping, and her expression was a horrible scowl. He gave a small groan.

Dealing with ticked off females was not how he wanted to begin his day. Then again, the beginning of most of his day started by his "daily reading" so he couldn't exactly complain.

"What did I do now?" He asked tiredly. She had a weird yet acute way of pinning blame on him. She could probably convince a person that the reason humans can't breathe under water was solely his fault.

She started rambling at which Kakashi zoned out. He wasn't immune to her convincing powers. If he listened, he'll more than likely feel guilty and apologize for something that was _not_ his fault.

Bloody teenagers with a brain.

He absently wondered where was Naruto. He glanced at his watch and it was on cue for him to start listening.

"- hadn't come so _damn_ late, he wouldn't have asked me to fight and we would had definitely _not_ kissed, which leaves us in this whole mess!" She finished, taking in large amounts of air for her deflated lungs.

Kakashi was a little more than confused. They fought and ended up kissing? Why couldn't _he _manage to do something like that? The luck of that blond sometimes. It was either so utterly horrible, or it was something that only old perverts daydream about.

"So I take it that Naruto's a horrible kisser?" He inquired smiling. Then again, you couldn't really tell if Kakashi really _was_ smiling..

"Of course not! But-" She abruptly stopped at what she just said and immediately blushed.

"That was the _only _thing you heard, wasn't it?" She shrieked as she poked him in the chest with one finger.

"Of course I was listening. But where is Naruto?" It sounded a bit sarcastic at first, but the question was sincere enough.

Sakura huffed and crossed her arms.

"I don't know." Her head turned to the side.

Kakashi sighed.

"C'mon. Today's the day they pick teams for the Chunin Exams."

Sakura's eyes widened.

Kakashi frowned. "Don't tell me you forgot."

She smiled impishly.

"Eh.." Sakura blushed even more.

"Never mind. Hurry, we have to find Naruto quickly or we can't get you two in." He started to sprint and soon enough the pair was darting forward in the trees side by side.

"But sensei," She started.

"Hmm?" He responded, but kept his head facing forward. They were running in the forest at first, but Kakashi veered back to towards the village. Naruto probably wouldn't stay moping around the forest for long.

"I thought you needed a team of… three to participate?" It was odd. There were only two of them. She hoped they wouldn't just stick someone on her team, someone she wasn't comfortable with.

"In Konoha, yes. But this year's event is going to be a collaboration between the Sand and us at their village. So things are going to be a bit different. Not to mention more interesting."

"Interesting?" She asked.

"Yeah. Cause' I'm one of the examiners." Kakashi stifled a laugh as Sakura almost slipped off one the branches.

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Someone was worried about me writing about the breakdown of Naruto's psyche. Don't worry about that. That was the whole point of the scene with Jiraiya and Tsunade. I'm not good enough to depict the torment that Naruto no doubt went through. Which is weird since Kishimoto and his board just totally neglected.

Please Sakura lovers (if there is any) don't give me that bull of how she confessed her love for him. She was 12 or 13 for crying out loud. A teenager's mind is fickle. Most anyway.

If you read all of my author-notes, thanks for listening. Now flame me just simply because you're offended at my opinion. I know someone will be bound to do that.

And only one person who reviewed said something that really made me do a "Huh?".

**Blazer-6**, you are _such_ a pervert. Hahahaha! Though, you have spurred me to write something that's going to be rated NC-17 with TenNaruTem. Kage Bunshins are going to be used evilly. (Snickers)

Much love to all who reviewed.


	5. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer:** Does not claim to own Naruto and is not making any sort of profit or money in any way.

_Chapter 4_

Naruto would never claim to be wise or smart. He still wouldn't even admit his own maturity. And despite all these things actually being true, for the life of him, he couldn't find his own purpose in life. His days with Jiraiya had shaken his childhood foundations.

-_Reminiscing- 6 months into traveling with Jiraiya._

_It was late, they had stopped traveling nearing the Wind country and set up camp near the woods, slightly varying off the trail. Jiraiya sat atop a rock, listening to Naruto ramble along of his dreams and ambitions._

"_Never regret?" Jiraiya asked incredulously. _

"_Yup!" Naruto replied, nodding his head vigorously._

_Jiraiya sighed heavily._

"_Naruto, to live the life of a Konoha nin with no regrets, is to live the life of a missing-nin." He said,_

_staring at Naruto sternly. Which off balanced Naruto since Jiraiya was such a pervert.._

"_What are you talking about? I just don't' want to do anything I don't want to!" Naruto shouted back._

_Jiraiya shook his head. Enough was enough. To allow Naruto to continue in his childhood ideals wasn't fair to him in the long run. It was bad enough he allowed Naruto to believe he could bring Sasuke back and things would be back to normal.._

"_Would you refuse a mission to murder?" He asked, surprising Naruto with the sudden change to questions._

"_Yeah.." Naruto wasn't really sure where this was going._

"_Unless there are _special _circumstances where you cannot, refusing to do so just because you don't want to, they'll brand you a traitor right off the bat."_

_Naruto nearly fell over._

"_Sheh - what?"_

_Jiraiya messaged his temples. This was a delicate subject._

"_You know the majority of the village would give almost anything to see you killed or exiled."_

_Naruto nodded numbly._

"_Though you haven't noticed, every infraction you pulled, are all documented. From booby trapping bathroom doors, to painting over the Hokage Monuments, though I gotta admit that one was good." He chuckled a moment before getting serious again._

"_Those were when of you were a child, a child! They usually don't even care about this sort of crap, but you're a special case. Now that you're officially declared an adult, anything you do is on thin ice."_

_Naruto, for some odd reason wanted to defend the village and its leaders. Realizing the lack of logic in trying to defend them, his shoulders slumped and he continued to listen._

"_You can't be so careless anymore. Whether you like it or not, you are the container for the Kyubi." Jiraiya sustained. "We've gone through this. You have to let go of your childish bullshit fantasy. The life of a nin is not the life of a superhero. There's not always a damsel in distress, its not all glory. It's a hard and cruel life. Accept it."_

Naruto considered that one of his more memorial days with Jiraiya. It was the day he left behind his idiocy of everything black and white. Sort of. It took a while to throw away beliefs that were rooted ever since he was a kid but he did it. Good, evil. It didn't matter. It was all on where you put your loyalties. While still retaining a humane consciousness, of course. There's no sense in following a madman slaughtering the helpless in the countryside. Or just being a weirdo and wanting to live forever..

The main reason of how he got into thinking of his own purpose in life, was because of a stack of papers nearly an inch thick. The Uchiha massacre was indeed puzzling.

Why did Itachi do it? Was he bored? What the hell was he trying to prove?

There were a few notes regarding his dislike of the clan, but how did it get to the point that he would kill everyone? The clan wasn't that big anyhow, perhaps a thousand or so, one third of them being shinobi. It was still baffling.

Itachi was indeed a genius. Escape routes were planned out, all predicted directions people would run, it was almost unbelievable that one person did this. Such a surreal thought that no one found out what happened until morning.

No one heard the screams?

The whole thing screamed conspiracy but Naruto figured theorizing was useless since he just didn't know enough.

Naruto's eyes glazed over at finding a particular photo. It was Sasuke's family.

His eyes narrowed at the sight of Sasuke on Itachi's back, both smiling brightly.

He had never seen _either_ brother's smile. And all the times he had met Itachi, he couldn't imagine Itachi smiling. Hell, he probably didn't even smirk. Itachi's presence was so.. _cold_.

Their pretty mother was smiling warmly, but the father looked as if this was a complete waste of time.

Reading had done almost nothing to answer any questions in his head. According to the therapist that was caring after Sasuke to adjust, Sasuke had dreams of what Itachi had done.

Naruto knew better.

It was the _Mangekyou Eye_. And Sasuke hadn't experienced it just once, but twice.

He didn't know what to think. He could almost sympathize with Sasuke for having such a deep-rooted hatred for someone who took everything away from you. But he didn't think leaving the village would really solve any problems, especially running to a weirdo who wanted to "get" your body. Did Sasuke truly believed staying in Konoha would hold him back?

Some of the most powerful nins _came_ from Konoha. Sandaime, even in his old age, was considered one of the most powerful of all the Kages. Who knew what the old man was capable of in his prime?

Itachi, Orochimaru, the lot of them, had _beginnings_ in Konoha.

But he guessed it all came down to hate. It blinds people. No way around it. After he had learned that Yondaime had sealed Kyubi in him, at times, instead of loathing the fox, he had a rush of rage at the deceased Hokage.

_Why him? Of all the friggin' babies.._

He shook his head. He was lucky enough to be reading classified documents; but sticking around any longer was just being stupid and pushing his luck.

After he finished cleaning up and walking out the door, he gave a quick glance at the wall. After a minute, Naruto ran back inside and read a small note stuck on the wall in familiar writing.

_Tsunade,_

_Don't forget-Today we pick which teams go to Sand to take the Chunin Exams._

_1:30pm sharp!_

_Shizune_

Naruto gawked at the note for several minutes before his brain kicked in and glanced at the clock.

It read 1:25pm.

"SHIT!"

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Kakashi and Sakura had searched every place their team moron could have gone off to.

His apartment was empty.

The Ichiraku stand, it wasn't empty, but no Naruto.

Sadly, those were the only places they knew he could be.

Sakura leaned against the wall and rested her forehead against it.

"Its times like these is when I feel the worst.." She moaned. She regretted every day she had ignored or insulted him.

"All those years, was it really just Academy, the stand, and then home?" It hit her hard when Sasuke left, but she still had family, friends. She wasn't totally alone. Even if she selfishly said she was without Sasuke. God, did she feel like an ass.

What did Naruto have? The team probably _was_ his family. Just how much harder was it for him? And yet, she hardly ever saw him mope around. Scratch that, she _never_ saw him mope _or_ sulk. He's always smiling and loud, seemingly letting nothing get to him. She had to admire the blond.

Kakashi shook his head, silently agreeing, seeing how they thought they knew little of him, but in fact, there was practically _nothing_ to know anyway. Minus the spirit demon that is.

"C'mon, we have to keep looking." Kakashi jumped from the pole he was standing on and started to leap from roof to roof.

They were nearing the monument when they heard a very familiar yell.

Sakura looked at Kakashi.

"Was that.." She started to ask.

"Most likely. I think it was coming from the main building."

"Have mercy, have you blasted ninjas know the decency of PEACE AND QUIET?" Someone shouted.

Kakashi and Sakura struggled to figure out exactly what direction Naruto's voice came from. With all the buildings and alleys, his voice could have projected from anywhere. That ass yelling at them wasn't helping matters.

Just then right, behind them, Naruto's voice rang loudly in their ears.

"Shut up you old bat!"

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He didn't really want to yell at the stupid old fool, but he was ticked off. Was this Jiraiya's idea of a joke?

Making him come back to Konoha, during the Chunin exams, knowing full well that his team is down a member, and there's no way in hell he would accept a stranger just to participate in it. Jiraiya had given him a week off, during the stupid exams. He knows he can't take it, so why would Jiraiya even bother giving him the time off?

To study and watch the participants in fights so he could learn? If it was… Screw that. He had better things to do.

Okay, that was a lie. He _didn't_ have anything better to do, but wouldn't go out of defiance to Jiraiya. He freely admits it. He can be a very stubborn brat when he wants to.

Naruto. Naruto.

_Huh?_

Was somebody calling him?

"Naruto!" Kakashi nudged him on the shoulder.

"Huh?" He grunted, just barely snapping out of his daze.

"You alright there? You were spacing out." He noticed Sakura was there. He could tell she was trying to get his attention. But he couldn't exactly look her in the eye just yet.

"Yeah. I'm okay. But, there's a Chunin exam this week?" He was trying to focus only on Kakashi, but it was a little hard since Sakura kept _staring_ at him. It wasn't a normal stare. It was the sort where you know they're trying to get your attention. Which was honestly getting on his nerves.

Kakashi nodded. "Yeah. I would like to enroll the two of you, only if you wanted to take it of course."

"Well, yeah! But – I thought you needed a team of three to participate?"

"That was over two years ago, Naruto. This year is different. It's going to be a joint exam held at the Suna village, but we're helping out too. It's a joint operation if you think about it…"

Perhaps Jiraiya wasn't as mean as he thought he was.

"Hell yeah, count me in."

Kakashi nodded once more. "Glad to hear that. Now c'mon.."

Sakura and Naruto followed Kakashi's lead since they obviously didn't know where to go.

"Man, knowing sensei we'll probably be two hours to late..." He muttered.

Kakashi heard that and decided for a little pay back.

Right when Naruto just jumped from the edge of a building, Kakashi shouted over his shoulder,

"Oi Naruto, I'm one of the examiners."

Unlike Sakura, Naruto's position was a little less stable so he ended up tripping his own feet and landed with a crash in the alley below.

"Damn it, sensei!"

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Lee and Neji were arguing whether or not they really wanted to participate in the exam. Tenten huffed in annoyance.

"Moron, we don't have _any_ guarantee that he will join. I do not feel like leaving for a week only to figure out he's not even _there._"

"But Neji, that's not the point! We should live life to the fullest! With his return, we have plenty of time to challenge him. The springtime of youth doesn't last forever! Just look at Gai-sensei." He said, gesturing to his sensei behind him.

Gai walked over and bopped Lee on the head. "Oh ho! Don't talk like I'm _not_ three feet behind you, Lee!"

Lee rubbed his head. "Oh right. Sorry, sensei."

Before the two could continue their pointless discussion, Tenten butted in.

"Shut up! We're taking the exam. We've skipped it for the last _two_ years, and I refuse to remain a Genin any longer!"

Neji was looking quite miffed but snorted and turned his head away in a childlike manner. So much for getting older and more mature.

Tenten was indeed flustered to be nearing sixteen and still stuck as a Genin just because the boys of the group didn't want to go to the damned exams.

Gai discreetly gave her thumbs up and mouthed, "Go, Tenten!"

Tenten shook her head and sat back down in her chair. They were in the auditorium that was recently built. A typical place, a large front stage and two floors filled with seats. Tsunade was at the stage looking bored while talking to some officials before stepping up to the podium again.

"Alright. As you know, today is the day-" Right at that moment, someone was trying to quietly get in by slowly opening the front door. But it was useless since the thing creaked like no tomorrow. Wasn't it supposed to be a new building?

All eyes were on the trio at the door.

Neji saw _who_ they were before they even opened the door and smirked while checking out Tenten for a reaction to the new comers.

Tenten's stomach fluttered awkwardly seeing the blond. She had two years but never really sorted out her feelings with Naruto. How could she if he wasn't even there. It would be strange of her to walk up to Sakura and starting pelting questions at her. Was he just her new crush? Someone to get over Neji with? She almost snorted out loud. No.

Her attraction towards Naruto was never based from looks from the start, so she was proud in that aspect. This went a little deeper than mindless puppy love. Naruto looking hot was just a bonus.

He didn't bother finding a seat and remained by the door looking very detached. Sakura was staring at him oddly before shaking her head and sat down next to Kakashi.

Tsunade cleared her throat.

"As I was saying," She started, giving Kakashi a brief death glare, "This year, the Chunin exams are being held in the Suna Village. But its going to be a bit different. Instead of a single village totally pulling the strings, its going to be a cooperation with us. We believed it would make it a bit more difficult to mingle our ideas to weed out those with.. luck and to make sure there isn't anyone playing favorites... "

"Now, I originally intended to only set the best group of Genins, but I was far to lazy to go through all the files, so I'm allowing all those who meet the requirements."

"Neh, Tenten," Lee whispered, "Tsunade-sama is pretty smart. To say she's lazy and then say something to keep all our minds off what she just said."

"Uh.. Yeah." Tenten kept making subtle glances to the male blond.

Neji grunted.

Tsunade began to speak again.

"Requirements: No less then two, no more than three people, at least thirty D-class missions, ten C-class missions and one B-class mission. Certain exceptions. If your team has at least twenty-five C-rank missions you automatically qualify. Same goes if you have one A or S rank. Having at least five B-ranks is also accepted. As long as you meet the requirements _and_ your Jonin instructor allows you, you may participate."

Even with the exceptions, that still pretty much wiped out all the teams even thinking about participating.

"But Hokage-sama, that's unreasonable!" Someone voiced. There was a murmuring of agreement.

Tsunade pointedly stared at the no name. "The Chunin exams isn't a walk in the park. Exams is the only time there wont be any retaliations for killing each other. Further more, a team that goes represents _us_ as a village. It wouldn't be prudent to allow any pathetic team full of fresh academy students to go. This isn't open for debate. Applications are on the table in front."

Gai slapped Neji and Lee on the back. "And you complained about all the missions we did. Now be grateful and enjoy the exams. It should be very interesting since I heard both the apprentices of Tsunade-sama and Jiraiya-sama will be going.."

"Hn." Neji, typical.

"Neh, Sensei, how many missions _do_ we have completed?" Lee asked, somewhat doubtful that they meet the requirements.

"Hm. You have been doing missions for a lil' over three years.. You may not have any B-ranks done, but you have more than enough C-missions needed."

Tenten missed the whole thing. She was staring at Naruto the whole time.

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"Shit sensei! Didn't you know about the requirements? We haven't done any B-ranks at all! And I know we don't have any C ranks done either.."

Sakura nodded in agreement

Kakashi just continued to read and waved off their worries. "Did you guys already forget about your fight with Zabuza? It was originally a C-class mission, but with the demon brothers, Haku, _and_ Zabuza, it was bumped up to an A-rank. And if you have one A-rank, you qualify. Convenient, isn't it?"

Both Naruto and Sakura said "oh."

"Since we're on the topic, I just remembered something sent to each of you." Kakashi dug in his pocket and pulled out two envelopes with a large "T" on it.

"If you remember, Tazuna never made the payments, I pulled some strings to have his payment delayed…"

Naruto and Sakura opened up the envelope and gaped.

"_That_ much was transferred to my account? So many … zeros…" Sakura just stared while Naruto continued with his gibberish.

"The amount due plus with the two year interest rate, the Naruto Bridge has made the Wave Village quite successful. Tazuna probably added extra since there's so much money.. "

Kakashi pulled out a third one.

"I guess I'll just donate _this_ so some charity or something."

"Man, with all this, plus all the money I'm supposed to get from doing missions with ero-sennin, I could probably get a new place.."

Wishful thinking on Naruto's part. Who would rent _him_ a place, let alone sell him one? It was already hard just getting into the dump of a place he has now.

"Is that so?" Despite people brushing past Kakashi numerous times, he never seemed to loose his place in the book.

"Yeah. You know if you have any vacancies at your building?"

"I'm not sure. I'll ask the owner for you later on today."

There were still teams fluttering out of the auditorium, the tension in the air was rather thick. With such high requirements, Tsunade had shot down most of the fresh Genins with dreams on going higher up the ranks quickly.

The application line was not long, in fact, there were only four teams filling out forms. Kakashi's team, Gai's team, and two unfamiliar Jonins.

The first Jonin was apparently assigned to the odd pair of Kiba and Ino. Kiba and Ino were stuck together since their teammates left them behind one by one. Hinata last year and Shino a good while ago. Chouji recently made Jonin and cannot participate. Shikamaru had his own little story.

The last group was nothing but strangers. Two kunoichi, a guy, and a large stocky Jonin. Strange mix. Typical teams consisted of two guys and a girl. They didn't look that young, they had to be at least in the fifteen-age area.

But Naruto didn't pay them much attention, not yet anyways. Turning back to his team, Kakashi reading, and Sakura filling out the form, he decided to start paying attention.

Girl number one had long braided black hair with an attractive heart shaped face. Naruto hardly ever paid attention to clothes so he moved to girl number two. This one was rather plain looking, and her hair was hanging freely, reaching her middle back, tinted brown. Though he noted that for a fifteen year old, her bust was alarmingly large.

The guy wore a beanie and looked as if constantly in a daze. All in all, they all look like they practiced their facial expressions pretty well. Nothing was given away. Until the two girls looked in his direction.

The two figures gawked in his general direction and made so much noise, one would think there was a stampede.

"Sakura-sempai!" Naruto winced. The two girls were pretty much shrieking.

Sakura gave the girls a smile. She turned to Naruto a little unsure since they hadn't really left on good terms, plus he has been ignoring her for the most part…

"Um.. Girls, this is Naruto."

She gestured to the large breasted one, "This is Katami," she pointed another finger to the braided chick, "and this is Suzuna."

Suzuna leaned awfully close to Naruto and gave him a curious expression. "Neh, sempai, you always told us he was ugly.."

Naruto stuttered a moment and shook his head. "Did she now?"

He gave Sakura a fake glare and she turned away smiling impishly. Kitami pushed Suzuna out of the way and studied Naruto's profile as well.

"Yeah, but you're totally not.." She cocked her head to one side, allowing her girls to do an impressive amount of jiggling.

"You likey?" She asked, noticing his stare and letting them do another round of blissful bounces.

"Quit flirting with your elders," an irritated voice came from behind. Suzuna cooed.

"Aw, is lil' Ryan-kun jealous?"

The teenager's dreamy expression was gone and looked rather menacing in his scowl.

Naruto cocked an eyebrow. "Ryan? Sounds like a type of food."

Ryan shrugged and pulled out a cigarette.

Kitami batted him on the head. "I thought you quit."

Ryan quickly pinched her taught rump and back flipped over a couple of chairs. "You said quit doin' weed!"

"_RYAN!"_ The large breasted girl raged.

He ran through the door with Kitami on his heels.

"Are they always like this?" Naruto asked.

Sakura and Suzuna sighed.

Suzuna sat in a chair and explained. "Kitami got the hots for ol' dumbass, but with him being a dumbass, its hard, yah know?"

"Uh… Yeah.." It reminded him of Sakura and Sasuke, though with a little less angst.

"What about you, you got the 'hots' for .._Ryan?_" The name was just so weird. It sounded like ..food. Then again, his literal translation of his name could mean noodles so he couldn't really say much else.

Suzuna giggled. "No. Besides, Kitami would mop the floor with me if we were competing. She's strong."

"Ah. Aw jeez, I gotta fill out these forms. I better head back home."

Sakura looked up from her work. "Why?"

"I don't remember some of the information its asking.. Social Security, identification number, I haven't used any of them in over two years." Naruto stood up and stretched out a few kinks.

"Later team, Suzuna."

An odd unison of byes followed him out the door. He picked this particular moment to pick up his payments for Jiraiya. Nearing the Hokage building he spotted Shizune.

"Oi, Shizune!"

She turned around and waited for him by the door. When he neared her she flashed him a smile and gave him a hug.

"You've been here for almost a week and we've barely even talked!" She noticed that they were at eye level and looked annoyed.

"Since when did you get so damn tall?"

He shrugged and she pouted.

"I miss my little midget."

He snorted and opened the door for her. "What did you expect? I was _gone_ for two years. Say, what happened to the guards and general security around this place? I walked into the office and it was empty."

He held out his arm and she hooked it with hers.

"I'm glad Jiriaya-sama didn't totally convert you.." She said appreciatively.

Naruto snorted, again.

"Well, basically, Tsunade-sama didn't want to waste man power guarding a building that had practically nothing worth stealing so it's just down to a three man ANBU squad. What are you here for anyway?"

"Just to pick up my checks."

"Oh, I actually have those." She said as she turned to look at him.

"Huh?"

"All your work was paid in advanced and some of the filers was annoyed with it just sitting there so I volunteered to hold it for you."

"Why didn't you just put it in my account?"

"I was, but I kept putting it off."

They turned a corner and Naruto almost ran someone over.

"Sorry about that! You kept putting it off for _two_ years? Aw.. That's a lot of interest I could have built up."

"Poor baby." She kissed him on the cheek and pitched it. "We'll get your money at my place after I grab something for a bud of mine."

"Aite then."

As they walked to her office she unhooked her arm and he stood by the door. Looking around he noticed they both shared the same sort of "organization" pattern. Papers were thrown everywhere; books were hanging from shelves, scrolls haphazardly lying on the floor. Oddly, he felt at peace in the room.

"Damn it! Where the hell is that bag?" Shizune was growing increasingly frustrated, regretting rejecting every offer for a Genin team to come in and clean the dump.

"Should I help?" He asked, scratching his head at the mess.

"Yeah. It's a brown paper bag."

He nodded and the moment he stepped into the room he heard a crunch. He dared not look down.

"Uh…" He was a little worried since whatever was in the bag might have been valuable.

Fortunately, she looked vaguely irritated. She walked over and smacked him over the head.

"Dumbass."

"Sorry. Eh heh…"

She picked up the bag and inspected the contents and seemed rather satisfied.

"You only managed to crush the container, so everything is fine. Lucky you." Quickly shifting from a glare to a smile, she re-hooked their arms and quickly left the room.

"Your apartment?" He knocked over some poor lad holding a stack of folders.

"Sorry!"

"Yes. My apartment."

The trip was uneventful. They made idle talk and tried to catch up on lost time. A half hour flew by the time they reached Shizune's flat. The complex wasn't anything fancy. It was a normal place colored a dull gray. Walking up the long leg of stairs they finally reached her room.

Naruto sensed someone familiar inside the room while Shizune seemed to just ignore it and briskly opened the door.

"Tenten, you idiot! How many times do I have to tell you to lock the door when you get in?"

Tenten's reply came echoing from the kitchen. "Sorry!"

"Well come here! I have someone I'd like you to meet."

Naruto snickered and turned around so Tenten couldn't see his face. She walked out drying her hands on a towel a little curious. She had already met tons of Shizune's friends. Naruto planned on doing something idiotic but Shizune was quick in spinning him around so Tenten could see him.

"Naruto?"

Shizune seemed mildly disappointed. "Aw, you two met already?"

He turned and looked at Shizune with a rather furious glare. "Yeah we did. The party yesterday, remember? HELL, I told you Tenten was at my place for the night!"

Shizune blushed. "I guess I wasn't really listening to that part."

Naruto snorted. "Figures. How do you know Tenten anyway?" He walked to the couch and plopped down.

Tenten answered for her. "We met in the hospital a while back." She walked over and sat next to him, ignoring the odd fluttering in her stomach. She cursed herself for her sudden nervousness around him. When she had first woken up, the alcohol in her system gave her a bit of boldness. But she was stone cold sober now. If Naruto so much as smiled at her now …

"Ah." He looked at her curiously and then to Shizune.

"Oi, I'm hungry."

Shizune rolled her eyes. "I didn't bring you over for nothing. But you gotta help cook." She went into the kitchen and started digging ingredients and the like out.

He looked over to Tenten and shrugged.

"Guess I have to help." He went to the kitchen with Tenten right behind him.

"What do I have to do?" he asked Shizune as she pulled out some knives and handed it to him along with some vegetables.

"Cut. Tenten, we're making the usual so you know what to do."

"What's the usual?" He asked in the middle of shredding a cabbage a little over dramatically.

Shizune hit the switch and the flame for the stove came to life. "Okonomiyaki."

"Aw. I wanted some Ramen."

"Shut up and finish off those vegetables I gave you!"

After Naruto had finished all the vegetables, the two kunoichis were apparently so used to doing this so often, they forgot about him. They grabbed the vegetables and gave him no further instructions. He dropped himself on the couch. Glancing at the clock he was surprised to find it saying it was 4:27. He warped to the spot where he typically trained and went on with his daily exercises. It was a very generic workout, but added with the chakra cuffs, an hour of work left him more than winded. He went back to his place for a shower and just remembered Shizune and Tenten. He looked at his clock and it read almost six.

"Shit!"

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Thank you.

I was rather surprised (and delighted) that some people were disgusted with the kissing with Sakura. In my defense, though we may all hate and loath Sakura, Naruto doesn't. He isn't watching all this crap in our perspective. And I wanted to take Sakura out of the picture from his possible love life as soon as possible, and she's not gay. Though I'm tinkering with the idea. And if you were paying close attention last chapter, Tenten and Temari got their work cut out for them. Hell, Temari still isn't even sure what _she_ wants. And yes, Tenten will play a larger role very soon..

Okonomiyaki is an actual Japanese dish. Meat, vegetables, and seafood are stir fried and dropped onto a dough like pancake. Its pretty good.

Flame me, blow me, I don't care. Laterz peopz.


	6. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. All characters thereof belong to its respective owners. I'm not writing this for any sort of profitable gain.

Chapter 5

-Recap-

_After Naruto had finished all the vegetables, the two kunoichis were apparently so used to doing this so often, they forgot about him. They grabbed the vegetables and gave him no further instructions. He dropped himself on the couch. Glancing at the clock he was surprised to find it saying it was 4:27. He warped to the spot where he typically trained and went on with his daily exercises. It was a very generic workout, but added with the chakra cuffs, an hour of work left him more than winded. He went back to his place for a shower and just remembered Shizune and Tenten. He looked at his clock and it read almost 6._

"_Shit!"_

wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww

Shizune abruptly stopped working and shifted her gaze to Tenten.

"Did he just _leave_?"

"I think he did.." Tenten looked towards the living room and noticed the blond had indeed left.

".. I didn't hear the door shut though.." She said as an afterthought.

Shizune rubbed her chin thoughtfully but then shrugged.

"He'll be back." She said confidently since the teen seemingly had a bottomless pit of a stomach.

The pair continued working until the younger one just noticed something strange about Naruto. It was something insignificant, but years of being a shinobi, one tends to be observant. Ignoring the fact that Tenten pretty much stared at him the whole time anyway.

"Neh.." She started, trying to stay aloof and casual about it.

"What?"

"I know I haven't really known him that long, but, is it just me, or this whole time he seemed so tense.. Like he just did something he regrets?"

Shizune faced her, signaling her to continue.

"Earlier today he was so carefree, relaxed.. But during the exam meeting, and just now, he came off really tense. Something was bothering him."

Shizune chuckled and focused back on her work.

"Since when does 'Miss never has time for anybody', notices something like _that_ with a person she just _met_?"

"Well.. um.." Tenten hadn't told anyone yet. Neji just seemed to know.. but even that.. she never really spoke with him about it.

The older woman laughed while waving her off.

"No need to explain. Yes, poor Naruto-kun was rather stressed today. But I got a fun little idea that'll loosen him up.. But for now, lets just finish this. I'm sure he'll be back hungry."

With the meal ready, the two prepared the table for dinner. They pulled a few plates out, silverware, glasses, and of course napkins.

Everything seemed ready until Shizune looked around and noticed the lack of blond in the room. She put her hands on her hips.

"He's still not back yet?"

Tenten undid her bun and brushed it along her shoulder. "Nope. Its already almost six."

Shizune shook her head.

"Let's just get started. At the rate he eats, he'll come late and _still_ finish before us."

By the time Naruto showed up, both the girls were so annoyed with him, they hardly noticed his peculiar entry into a lock-downed apartment.

He scratched the back of his head.

Well aware of the full blown glare Shizune was giving him, he couldn't exactly say anything. Tenten busied herself with the food.

"Eh.."

"Shut it! Now come here and eat." Shizune barked.

The table was round and brown. Naruto ended up taking the seat across from Shizune.

"Uh.. Looks good…"

Shizune's eye brow twitched and Tenten just ignored him.

Shrugging, he tore in. He didn't know what the hell this was, nor did he remember what they called it. But it was damn good. Then again, it could have been crap and he wouldn't even know the difference. That happens when you ate nothing but dried food for the past two years. He couldn't cook. Jiraiya couldn't cook. It was pathetic really.

"Mm. Tastes good too. You two are great.."

Giving them his typical lopsided smile, they couldn't stay angry with him. The bastard had just gotten too cute.

The slight tension disappeared and Naruto just enjoyed the presence of an old friend and a new one.

"What's this called again?" He asked in between mouthfuls.

"Okonomiyaki" The two females said in unison. Naruto laughed.

"Jynx? Hah. You both owe me a drink."

Both were ignorant of the little game he was playing and told him off. Or at least they tried to.

"Why you – " Again in unison, they stopped mid sentenced and glared at each other.

"Double jynx! That's another drink from the both of you!" Naruto laughed. Free drinks rule.

They both exhaled sharply and continued eating. True to Shizune's prediction, the girls were barely finished with their second helping when Naruto had already cleared them out.

Shizune sighed. "What happened to the gentlemen from earlier today?"

"What? I'm hungry." He wiped his mouth with a napkin and took a gulp of some water but almost choked.

It was sake.

Tenten was looking at Naruto incredulously. "Naruto, this morning you had over five bowls of that instant ramen, at lunch you had that enormous sandwich, and just now you ate enough food that should have fed ten people. Where the hell are you putting it all?"

Her thoughts strayed to his steel like abs…

"Fast metabolism?"

After taking so much chakra from the Kyubi, in fact, from what Jiraiya told him, he should have died. Humans just are not supposed to be exposed to so much demonic chakra. The fact that the demon was sealed to him at birth helped his body adjust to the foreign toxic substance, but to the extend Naruto was channeling?

Improbable.

However some good actually sprang from its use. Especially from his transformation against Sasuke. He noticed a sizable difference in his natural strength, he already hardly ever got sick and now he was pretty much immune to anything, and there were still a few more things he hadn't even figured out yet.

But of course, he couldn't just say _that_ now.

"This is sake." He blurted.

"And?" Shizune seemed to be on her fourth cup. Tenten was just slowly taking small sips. She had just recovered from a hangover; she was in no rush for another one.

"Nothin.." He looked at his cup wearily. He was a little worried of what could happen when he was drunk, but he shrugged and continued to drink

Shizune suddenly smiled. It was a sort of smile that didn't reach the eyes. The type to let you know that you're screwed. But Naruto just didn't have enough human contact to pick it up.

"Naruto-kun, you said I owe you a drink?" She asked coyly.

"Uh huh."

"Go make yourself comfortable on the couch.."

"I'll help…" He offered.

Shizune smiled and winked at Tenten.

"Feh. You're my guest. You shouldn't have to do anything. Go on."

A little suspicious, he reluctantly made his way over to the couch and plopped down. He watched while the two girls whispered about something while clearing the table. Whatever it was, Tenten looked rather surprised. He had better hearing then they thought, but either way, he couldn't make out the womanly gibberish spouting from their mouths. The only thing he could make out of "Sake" and "Maybe".

When they were finished, Tenten walked over and sat on the other side of the couch. She looked at him, decidedly amused and shook her head.

"Full?" She asked, inwardly wondering where it all went.

He gave her grin. "Sort of."

She chuckled.

Shizune suddenly hollered from the kitchen. Which was redundant since said kitchen was barely three steps away from the living room.

"Oh, Naruto! I got those drinks I owe you." She looked at Tenten.

"Looks like you gotta pay him back some other time, sweetie."

Tenten crossed over her arms. A habit she intended to break. Just hung around Neji too much..

"Whatever."

Shizune bounced into the living room holding three glass cups and a large unmarked bottle. She seated herself between the two Genins and handed each of them a cup.

"Drink up! But Naruto-kun, since you're so _special_, take a full swig in gulp." She beamed at him.

"Why?" Naruto took a moment to inspect his drink.

It was clear, but a little shiny almost. It might have been soda water; but the smell gave it away as something alcoholic.

"What the hell is this?" The blasted glass was almost scorching hot.

"Jiraiya-sama said its called 'Everclear'. Its supposed to be something like an extremely strong shot of sake."

"Pah. I bet its nothing." Shrugging it off, he picked up the glass and downed it.

His throat was on fire. It burned all the way down, when it finally hit his stomach, he could practically still feel it smoldering.

"_Shit!"_ He gasped. Beating his chest, for what reason know one knows, its just instinctive. He let out a whistle.

"Damn! That's.." he started coughing. "Strong.."

Not one who usually drinks, let alone being able to fight the toxins he just willingly swallowed, he could already feel it running through his system. Feeling slightly more sluggish, but a bit more mellow, he burped. In turn for being able to fight off most illnesses, he was all the more vulnerable to alcohol. Talk about odd trade offs.

"More?" Shizune asked, practically leering at him.

"Sure."

Tenten and Shizune looked at each other and grinned. Poor blond didn't even know what hit him.

An hour later, a couple of drinks later, Naruto was down right hammered while the girls were just enjoying the buzz.

"She dun' really botherz to take any sorta.. uh.. constraint.. jusss theh oth'r day she smacked Naruto-kun through a wall and told him to pay for itz.."

Naruto was currently blabbering on the "meanyness" of Tsunade. The kunoichis laughed since him referring to himself in the third person was just adorable.

"So Naruto.." Tenten started to ask.

"Did anything.. bad.. happened to you today?" It was a tad slow since anything said to quick would put him in a fowl mood since he couldn't make it out.

"Bad?" He slurred.

"Yeah, bad." Tenten repeated as if talking to a 8 year old.

"Duhm.. Well.. Nartuuuto can't weally member' but.. Narutooo and SSSak-ur-a wuz sparin' and den' we were makin out.."

He stopped to take a sip, as if it would help him remember.

"Naruto doughtz she was likey too..but she.." As he goes on with the story, he slowly grows more sober since his emotion with rejection was like a kunai to the brain.

"Why did she look like ..that.. –hic- ..it took her what..5 –hic- minutes to figure she didn't want Naruto?"

It was obvious this single act really tore at him. To actually be pushed off and then to be looked at with shock and confusion. It wasn't enough that he didn't have many people in his life. But to be treated that way by someone he truly cared about, it's unimaginable.

Shizune understood. She had talked to Iruka, Kakashi, those who knew how he was treated. Those who knew just how terribly lonely he had felt at times…

Tenten in her ignorance, didn't understood the significance of the ordeal. She was already annoyed with Sakura to begin with.

"That's it? This whole day.."

Shizune frowned and immediately shushed her. Shizune was already a little more than inebriated. Seeing an attractive male down in the dumps, she saw no harm in trying to cheer him up.

He was standing up and she pulled him back down on the couch. She slung an arm around him and made contact with her lips to his ear.

"If you kiss me, I promise I won't push you away.." She whispered silkily.

He shuddered as she slowly went from his cheek to his lips. Naruto went to the offensive and pushed her back on the armrest and ran his tongue across her upper lip.

Tenten could do little but stare in shock and anger. Shock since, damn, its Shizune and Naruto going at it there.. Anger since it should be _her_ underneath him..

Shizune's hands were exploring until she suddenly halted her reverie and spoke up.

"Holy.. Naruto.. Your muscles are clenching as if your getting an enema!"

Naruto didn't seem to hear since he kept on trying to get his mouth back on her lips. Shizune finally pushed him off her and she was a little out of breath. He didn't seem to be trying but he was so _strong_.

Tenten merely glared and took another sip of her drink. There wasn't much she could really do but conspire revenge for tomorrow.

"Naruto – _calm down idiot!_ Listen, do you feel this?"

Shizune groped his back and various parts of his body.

"They're not supposed to be this tense." She shook her head and sighed heavily.

"So many people don't know that walking around tense like that isn't healthy for you. I guess that's just force of habit to be constantly alert like that.."

Naruto looked slightly dazed from the amount of words she said but nodded anyway. Shizune shook her head pulled out a kunai and threw it at what looked to be a closet door. Instead of finding a door with a new kunai stuck on it, it harmless bounced off and fell to the floor. After a moment, there was a click and the door opened and out sprung a table for massages.

"Take off your shirt and lay on your stomach on _that_ – " Shizune grabbed Naruto's head and directed him to the recently laid out table – "table."

Naruto couldn't really describe what was going on his back when Shizune started to work. It was extremely pleasurable until she started on his knots.

"SON OF A – OW!" He shifted constantly annoying Shizune in the process.

"Quiet!" He kept on squirming until she just growled and stopped.

"Tenten, get me the sedatives in kitchen. It's the drawers next to the fridge. Bottom left." She said hitting Naruto with one hand while pointing with the other at the kitchen.

Tenten stopped glaring when she turned around and reluctantly went to the kitchen. She rummaged around in said drawer until she found vial with a sickly green substance inside.

"Is this it?" She asked, eying the thing suspiciously.

"Mmm.. yeah..Mm.."

"You sure?" She looked back at the vial then back at Shizune and groaned. Shizune was on top of Naruto in a type lip lock. Again.

Tenten threw the vile at the couple and Shizune caught it. She pulled herself off of his face and poured the contents down his throat. He started to choke but she put her lips against his again and he managed to swallow it down.

"Shizune! Can't he die from all the alcohol and the sedatives in his body?" She was a bit frantic, but didn't really care. Normal over the counter medicine specifically said to never take it with alcohol, but this was a sedative. It was different but it was still something to worry about.

Shizune didn't seem to care and only paused to exhale, "Not - this sedative.."

Tenten thoughts were a whirlwind of confusion and anger. A twenty-two year old medic making out with a fifteen-year old Genin. On a massage table of all things. And she was sitting there drinking "Everclear", watching. She wasn't sure to be annoyed with her cowardice for not acting quickly enough, or pissed at Shizune for practically stealing her crush.

Tenten couldn't help but think what the hell?

Perhaps at that age she's tired of all the typical males she's gone out with already. Tenten never really like any of her boyfriends since they seemed so keen on the idea of getting married and proposed on a second or third date.

Perhaps it's the dangers of getting killed on virtually any mission that seems to be the distinctive difference between civilian males and male nins. Most civilian males think through their bottom _head_, while male nins either don't pursue females at all or want to settle down quickly.

Shizune always said dating civilians, in her words, "suck", so she always stuck with shinobi. Most of her relationships were a strain. With them on missions, and her with medical teams, they hardly ever lasted more than a month. Maybe she just wanted some fun?

But with Naruto? Tenten couldn't blame Shizune, she supposed. He _is_ easy on the eyes. Especially since he grew out of that odd jump suit. He came to dinner with dark pants and an oddly attractive orange shirt… She had thought she hated that color.

Glaring at the couple one last time, mainly Shizune, Tenten sat down on the couch and continued drinking.

Oh yes, tomorrow, perhaps the week after, maybe even a month, but there will be hell to pay.

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Seikotune: I tried cleaning this up as much as I could, but there's only so many times I can re-read my own stuff.

Hope you enjoyed reading.


	7. Chapter 6

W/N: Heh. Everyone was practically saying the thing with Shizune is "okay". OMG. People, I _know _some of you hated it. No need to lie. If you didn't like it, just say it. You don't sugar coat it. And some of you kept saying how unexpected it was. C'MON. They were _drinking._ You should have expected them to end up having sex. But they didn't. -shrugs-

If you want someone to blame on why I put Shizune there in the 1st place, blame **One Azn Dragon**.

And I think I should have put this in the last chapter but, do _not_ ever, _ever_, drink too much 'Everclear'. Its considered to be one of the most strongest type of vodka around. I really don't know my audience.. do any of you drink at all? I really wonder how old some of you are. Just because people hook up when drunk doesn't mean they'd have a chance when they're sober.

Besides, if it weren't for the vodka, it would have been _really_ hard for me to write enough for Shizune to even feel that way for the blonde. Alcohol is the quick fix for getting people together. And pissing Tenten off. Boo yah!

And what slowed down plot? There wasn't much of one to begin with anyway.

Anyway, here's

Chapter 6

_-recap-_

_..__Tenten couldn't blame Shizune, she supposed. He _is_ easy on the eyes. Especially since he grew out of that odd jump suit. He came to dinner with dark pants and an oddly attractive orange shirt… She had thought she hated that color._

_Glaring at the couple one last time, mainly Shizune, Tenten sat down on the couch and continued drinking._

_wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww_

Sunlight crept through the blinds and viciously assaulted the eyes of Naruto. His eyelids fought valiantly but to no avail. Consciousness was stirred, and instinctive senses took over.

He immediately noticed two distinctive life forms _very_ close by. It was a very baffling feeling. After waking up near Jiraiya for two years, he was accustomed to one chakra source. But there were two, though clearly not as powerful and refined, chakra sources.

Mental senses set aside, he was definitely sure there was an arm draped along his stomach. Noticing that it was skin against _skin_, he thought he was naked. Luckily, he had his boxer briefs, so no harm there. He shifted a bit, and _someone_, the one with the arm on his bare stomach, pulled and snuggled into his shoulder.

He honestly didn't want to get up. He was still tired and had a slight headache. He resorted to just opening his eyes and looking at who was starting to drool on his left shoulder. He couldn't see a face, but whoever it was, it seemed to be a girl.

_Hopefully._

She had deep black hair that seem to be fading to red at the tips. A brunette for the most part. If the curves around her bottom didn't give away that she was indeed a she, then this is one feminine guy.

He looked to his right and saw short black hair. But he really didn't notice it since he was looking at a bare _back_. Looking further down, he noticed said person was completely _naked_. The sheets covering him and whoever was on his shoulder, was not covering whoever it was on his right. He could tell it was a female body, but he figured he couldn't be exactly sure.

Looking around he found the clock and it read 7:13. But that wasn't what interested him. It was a container labeled in bright red "Lubricant".

Frantically searching his memories on _what_ exactly he did last night, he then groaned when all he could make out were hazy blobs with black heads.

His headache increased with frustration so he started clearing his mind of all thoughts. Looking back down on the person on his shoulder, he really didn't mind and he was pretty damn comfortable so he moved his arm from underneath the head of hair, scooting her even closer in the process, wrapped an arm around on who was hopefully a girl, and fell asleep.

He was just loosing consciousness when the alarm clock starting blaring.

His eyes shot open and whoever was next to him stirred and murmured something about cookies.

A female yawn came over from his right and he saw her hand each over and turn off the racket coming from the small machine. He gently lifted the person off his chest and looked at whomever just turned off the alarm. Even though he was facing the woman, he didn't know who it was. Wasn't his fault since he got an eye full of breast.

She snickered.

"So, you really _are_ a pervert." Shizune quickly grabbed a pillow and covered herself.

Naruto started stuttering, half trying to defend himself, have trying to convince himself he wasn't trying to look again.

Shizune looked around and noticed the container of lube on the stand.

Her lips opened as if to say something but closed it. She frowned and puckered her lips in away Naruto found it oddly attractive.

"Just _what_ did we do last night?" She winced and applied the technique originating from Tsunade to her head.

Naruto shook himself out of his stupor and pointed at the lube.

"I'm not sure if I _want _to know... Why is _that_ there?"

Shizune just shrugged.

There was a slight agitated moan to his left and the figure got up and starting rubbing her head.

"Tenten?" Naruto asked, a bit hysterically. Luckily, she had a sports bra on and some shorts. Naruto wasn't sure to be relieved or disappointed.

"Gah.." She started to grope her bum.

"Why is my ass so _sore_?"

Naruto's jaw dropped and Shizune just looked curious. She momentarily forgot her nakedness and slapped Naruto on the back.

"Go, Naruto! Sly when drunk of his rocker!" She burst into laughter and Naruto still sat there slack jawed.

Being the typical teen he was, he was already getting pissed because he couldn't remember doing it.

Quite suddenly, Tenten started laughing.

Naruto stood up. "This is _not_ FUNNY!"

"Oh chill out.." She said in between chuckles. Looking at Naruto's clueless face put her into another set of giggles.

"I was just kidding. I overheard your conversation and I just _had_ to say that.."

"So.. We didn't do anything?"

She nodded.

Once again, Naruto found himself not sure whether to be relieved or disappointed. He was really starting to get annoyed with his conflicting emotions. Just _what_ exactly was he supposed to feel?

For the next 5 minutes, it was a rather comical sight. Shizune sat, hidden behind her pillow, Naruto's eyes darted from Tenten to Shizune, and Tenten rested against the head post examining her hair.

Shizune twitched. "Naruto, unless you don't want to be able to have children in the future, GET OUT!"

Naruto bolted from the bed and narrowly avoided a kunai Shizune had produced from who knows where.

Hearing the door shut behind him, he plopped down on the couch. He heaved out a sigh and just sat there. Waking up at seven something was more or less sleeping in. Jiraiya could actually wake up early when he wanted to, or at least kicked Naruto while sleeping to get him to start his exercises. It always annoyed him how he would be working up a sweat and the pervert would lay there snoring.

But its really been a while since he actually felt this calm and relaxed. It was still a strange feeling to wake up next to those two, but he figured it was okay. When he had first started talking to Shizune, she had mostly kept to herself. He eventually won her over and she'd been great company.

He was still at a loss on what to think of Tenten, though. He could pretty much count how many people he usually interacted with on one hand. She was a like a foreign concept to him, but luckily she's fairly easy to get along with, adaptable, and damn fun. He had an odd itch to have a friendly spar with, not exactly show off, but to see how strong she was. From what he remember two years ago, her techniques were fairly interesting. She only lost so horribly because her abilities just happen to be nulled when applied to strong wind users.

Having the ability to launch hundreds of weapons from a single scroll can be extremely useful in a number of situations. Shoving those thoughts aside, he went back to pondering on just _what_ to think of her. He admits she got him good with the lil' fake ass pain. It was different being on the other end of the joke. He was sure he didn't actually care, but he just shook his head and let himself doze off on the couch.

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Shizune haphazardly flung a sheet around herself and went to her drawer for some clothes.

"Tenten, you can be so cruel." She shook her head and decided for a shower.

"Oh c'mon, I couldn't resist. It was just baiting me." Tenten shot back.

"I'm going for a shower, do you want one? I'll be quick if you do." Shizune grabbed a pair of clothes and went into the rest room.

Tenten sniffed herself, but snorted when realizing she felt like taking one whether she smelled or not.

"Yeah." She followed Shizune into the bathroom and shut the door behind her. Shizune stepped into the shower and pulled the curtains. She turned on the water and let the feeling of hot water against her skin to clear out her thoughts.

Tenten had just begun to brush her teeth when Shizune suddenly stuck her head out the curtains.

"Did me and Naruto.." She let it hang, since she wasn't exactly sure what she was talking about.

Tenten had a brief flashback of blond and black, flesh on flesh, aggressively making out on the massage table.

Feeling a wave of anger flooding her system she started brushing furiously. She spat out the gunk and rinsed her mouth.

Shizune grew annoyed. "Did _we?"_

The younger kunoichi was feeling rather bitchy at the moment but managed to keep it under control. Somewhat.

"First of all, its Naruto and _I,_ and yes, you two did make out. On the couch, the massage table.."

"The _massage _table?" Shizune let out whistle and started shampooing her hair.

"Yes. The message table." Tenten walked out to grab her things for her shower when she heard someone lightly snoring.

She stepped out the room and spied Naruto sleeping.

The brunette smiled and shook her head. Turning around she went back inside.

"Too cute.. The bastard." She muttered. She was actually getting irritated since Neji had once held the same effect on her.

Shizune briskly came out the bathroom looking a little edgy.

"Something wrong, sempai?"

"Huh? Oh no.. Shower's all yours.." She replied, somewhat distracted.

Shizune paced back and forth in her room. She hadn't planned on drinking enough to the point where she wouldn't remember what she did, and she _definitely_ didn't plan on making out with Naruto.

Peering into the living room with the intent on finding out what Naruto remembered, she stopped herself from yelling when she saw the peaceful form of Naruto.

She leaned against the door frame and smirked to herself. Naruto could actually be cute when not being usual boisterous self. She shrugged figuring she really wouldn't have mind if she ended up sleeping with him while plastered. Feeling a bit guilty for the thought, she shook her head and decided to get herself breakfast.

The minute she started cooking, the blond appeared out of no where sniffing the food over her shoulder.

"Something smells good.." Naruto didn't appear to be fully awake and spoke in a dazed tone.

Shizune found his closeness awkward, but for what she couldn't fathom. It was seemed funny at first, but now it felt odd and almost creepy.

She elbowed him in the ribs and he didn't even flinch. She tried another and she was rewarded with a yelp in her ear.

"And what was _that_ for?"

Shizune shrugged.

Naruto didn't appear to have any of the hangover symptoms and Shizune was just curious.

"Naruto, do you remember _anything_ from last night?"

His face went into a slight frown and shook his head.

"I can't make out anything beyond blobs with black heads."

She handed him a plate at which Naruto stared inquisitively.

"Stir-fried bell peppers in the _morning_?"

She scowled.

"Well if you don't want any.."

Naruto immediately started munching. "S'good!"

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Tenten stepped out of the room into an atmosphere of laughter and the distinct smell of the oyster sauce used in Shizune's typical stir-fried cooking. She walked slow, but deliberated, just to get a view of the scenery.

Naruto was shirtless and laughing along with Shizune. She found it to be terribly annoying to watch them laugh and have a good time since she knew they had relationship with before she even had the chance to talk to him. She put on her "happy face", which was an equivalent to her smirking, and sat down.

Naruto greeted her with a mouth full of food.

"Hey!" And he smiled.

Tenten was ready to smack him up-side- his head but his smile was apparently contagious. She didn't _want_ to make her interest so obvious. She did not want to throw herself at him and have him making out with her just because she's a girl and is on top of him. She wanted him to _know_ her. Not just some chick who came out of no where for a quick lip lock. And he hasn't even made any sort of indication that he was interested, _at all._

"Morning."

Naruto chuckled and looked at Shizune.

"Man.. I wish I was there to see _that_."

Tenten reached for a fork.

"See what?" She asked not bothering to look up.

"Anko was trying to hit on Iruka, my old academy sensei. And I guess he was weirded out by her, just confused.. since I don't remember sensei dating _anyone.._ Anyway, he thought that if word somehow got out that he was a virgin she might leave him alone."

Naruto started chewing again, and Shizune picked up the story.

"I was the one who was supposed to talk and let Anko "overhear". All she did was lick her lips and said something about fresh meat."

She started laughing again until Naruto motioned her to continue.

"It was late and I was walking pass the academy and I saw Iruka's room light still on. I was going to say high but when I got to the room Anko was all over him. She started started tugging off his pants and when she got to his shorts ... _sensei_ had an _accident._"

Shizune and Naruto started laughing again, but Tenten couldn't see the humor.

"Both of you are freaks." She dead-panned.

They only shrugged in response.

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It was a mere half hour minutes later in which Tenten would have appreciated Shizune's and Naruto's odd humor. Watching Neji and Lee spar with one another was rather dull. Thinking back, it was always this dull but hanging around Naruto and Shizune _actually_ made it seem even worse than usual.

She was slowly dozing off before Gai startled her when he zipped behind her. He looked as if he was going to give her one of his annoying greetings but instead he gave her a sniff.

"Hmm." He took another sniff and scoffed. "Tenten, my adorable pupil, you've been drinking! Where did I go wrong? How.."

Tenten didn't feel like rolling her eyes so she just snorted.

"There's nothing against one as old as yourself to consume it, but it seems to have made you drowsy! Lets get the blood flowing, shall we?"

"No?"

Gai didn't seem to hear her and started to stretch.

"We leave for the Chunin exams in one day, so Tenten, as skill full as you are, your stamina is still considerably lower than your other team mates.. So lets just do some warm ups to get you acquainted somewhat to the dry heat over there."

He gave her an almost sinister smile and took off.

"Try and keep up!" He shouted over his shoulder.

With a groan Tenten ran after him.

In the mean time, Neji had just delivered a fist in Lee's stomach, knocking the wind from him.

"Where are those two off to?" Lee wasn't sure if Neji was asking a question or just stating it with the word 'where'.

He was still panting when Neji finally looked at him.

"Want to follow?"

Lee sprung to his feat.

"Of course!"

With a shrug, Neji leaped onto a tree and started jumping from branch to branch while Lee just ran on the road. They were in no rush, so they took a leisurely pace in the direction their sensei and team mate had gone.

It was a little over a mile when they finally caught up to Gai and Tenten doing a routine uniquely designed for her.

Gai was ahead of Tenten, throwing square pieces of cardboard with a dot in the center in front of her.

Tenten would throw either a kunai or shuriken right through the dot. She never missed but Gai ran out of cardboard and decided it was stamina training again.

With a burst of speed he disappeared in a cloud of dust. She gave another groan and picked up the pace with Neji and Lee on her tail.

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Naruto was with his own sensei, annoyed since he hadn't seen or even felt Jiraiya come up from behind him and dragged him off to the forest.

"I thought this was my week _off._ I shouldn't be training, I should be resting. I'm leaving tomorrow, you know."

The large old man slapped his head.

"You're leaving tomorrow _night._ You can slack off all then."

Naruto muttered something.

"_What_ was that?"

Naruto sighed.

"Nothing.."

Jiraiya tore off numerous sheets of paper off his notebook and held them in his hand.

"Ready?"

Naruto nodded and looked ready to jump.

"Go!" Jiraiya formed a mini tornado, flinging the sheets from his head, scattering them all over the clearing.

Naruto furiously leaped from paper to paper, making various origami creatures.

His hands were weren't even blurs as the sheets just seem to transform into a crane, an otter, anything that came to his mind. When he finished, seventeen animals laid on the grass, as if some sort of outside zoo.

Gai had just happen to sense two chakra sources and checked it out, inadvertently, directing the rest of his team there with him.

Tenten's jaw was pretty much on the ground, Neji was scowling, and Lee looked hyped. Gai grinned and shook his head.

But Jiraiya was _not_ impressed. He waved some papers in his hand.

"You missed nine. Nine out of twenty-six. That's equivalent to a D."

Naruto was panting pretty hard and didn't even bother to retort. Gai chuckled.

"So hard on the boy, Jiraiya-sama? That's pretty good." He picked up a figure that resembled a dragon.

"Look at the detail, the folding, I know I wouldn't fair much better on an activity like that_. OH THE JOYS OF YOUTH!" _

Jiraiya crossed his arms and shook his head, not even phased at his outburst. Or the odd flexing.

"I'm not _that_ good, but I could do double the amount he did and I wouldn't miss more than three... "

Neji heard the rebuke, but was impressed nonetheless. He stared hard, almost piercing Naruto with his gaze. Two years had transformed a reckless almost bullheaded, but powerful, Naruto into this? He still didn't quite understand how he had summoned chakra even with closed Tenketsu, or even know what exactly he saw in that swirling mass inside of him, but before any of that had happened, Naruto was almost completely worthless.

Purposefully ignoring how Naruto managed to trick him in the beginning, causing Neji to slight "humph" in the back of his throat. The blond's choppy and sloppy movements practically gave away anything he was about to do. But now..

When they were running, Neji had been scoping with his eye from his max distance. Though his movement still wasn't as graceful his, nothing was given away. He was moving fairly fast but Naruto's speed with his fingers was mind boggling.

A typical Origami figure has the least, forty or so folds, most of which were tiny small creases. Yet he had done seventeen figures. Yes, some were done shabby, but for the most part, they were nice and clean.

Neji had an itch to try this later.

As Naruto picked himself up from his knees, he noticed Tenten glaring. At Naruto.

Neji mentally frowned and pondered why. He was sure his plan at sticking Tenten with Naruto after the party couldn't backfire. He figured if Naruto could get along with Tenten with a hangover, they'd be fine as a couple.

Perhaps he wasn't as smart as he thought he was.

Neji cocked his eyebrows at the thought.

Not likely.

If they didn't work out, it was _their_ fault. Neji nodded his head, it wasn't his fault at all.

Jiraiya reverted from his lecturing sensei self, to a more laid back posture.

"You know what the funny thing is? _I'm_ not the one who even thought up this exercise. It was all him." He chuckled as a jerked a thumb at Naruto.

"He's not the sharpest kunai around, but he's got some pretty clever ideas."

Neji smirked. "I agree."

Naruto scowled.

I -heart- you my wonderful reviewers!

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	8. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. All characters thereof belong to its respective owners. I'm not writing this for any sort of profitable gain.

Chapter 7 (Even if the stupid thing says its 8)

It was three in the morning as Tenten laid on a hill side on the out skirts of her home. Half of the village's lights were out so she was allowed the luxury of enjoying the presence of the star filled sky.

She couldn't complain, she supposed. Her family was well off, but her parents were wise in not spoiling her rotten. They were retired Chunins in the prune age of their fifties and did what they enjoyed most for a living. Her mother constantly perfected her family's art of storing items in scrolls, while her father perfected the weapons in the scrolls.

During her academy days they taught her necessary skills but were careful not to let her surpass her class, they basically did a good job.

They weren't the closest of family members so she was pretty much allowed to do whatever she pleased after becoming a Genin. But the thought of disappointing them was always unsettling, so she never did anything drastic. So there she was, just laying there redundantly counting stars. It helped ease her thoughts and emotions to just lie there as useless as they day you were born, but she felt like counting.

The problem was that it wasn't working

All resulting from the return of a supposed nobody.

Her life was simple. It was easy. She never _really_ desired anything beyond what she considered normal human selfishness. Have a casual relationship with parents. Meet with Gai-sensei and the boys. Watch Neji and Lee pummel each other, build stamina. _Damn Gai-sensei. _Do an easy mission, even though some of the C-rank missions were rather dangerous. But that was all.

But Naruto. He _actually_ shook up this general feeling of discontent. She was fine with her life until he came along. Naruto graduated with barely passable grades, just inching his way into being a Genin. And after a mere two years, he actually _made_ something of himself. His performance earlier in the day proved it. It was unthinkable.

What had she done in two years? She's still _average_. Stronger than many, but weaker than many as well. She had everything people _say_ you needed to become strong. Even if she didn't have one of the Sannin training her, it still irked her.

Tenten abruptly sat up and growled. She slammed her fist into the grass, but for what she didn't know. She couldn't figure out why everything was just starting to tick her off.

Shizune and Naruto, just all _over _each other, she'd understand her rage for that.

But Naruto being stronger than her? Why did it feel so awkward _knowing_ that. Neji and Lee could take her out, but why did it bother her so much that Naruto could as well? Wit the observations on his bouts against Neji or Gaara, he could have taken her out years ago, but why was it bothering her _now_.

She couldn't understand. Being the type to hate not being able to absorb something quickly, her anger was greatly roused. It was that irrational itch that wouldn't go away even if she scraped her skin off.

Tenten despised that almost deranged feeling. She hated the blond for making her feel this way. She wanted to hit him, stab him, yet at the same time...

She wanted him. Maybe even lusted him. She felt the need to lean up against him, bury herself in his shoulder and just _scream_. After that internal vent, she felt like such an emotional little tart. As her eyes slowly glazed over, almost lightly hovering above the depths of abnormal sleep (while encouraging her thoughts to dream of the zero now stud) there was a loud "Ah ha!"

Recognizing it was her father's, she slowly sat up and glanced in his general direction. She watched him shuffle out of the house, scanning the place as if looking for something. The something turned out to be her as he bolted towards her.

"Tenten!" He hollered, running up the rather steep hill.

"Father? What's all the commotion about?"

Her father smirked and pulled out what looked like an ordinary kunai.

"Notice anything.. odd about this?"

Tenten took the kunai from his hand and examined it. It didn't look that different. It was razer sharp, a tad lighter in weight than her normal ones but other wise she couldn't tell a difference.

"Uh... Nothing?" She handed him back to kunai and stood up to her feet.

"_Exactly._ Nothing. Probably a little better than the average kunai because I spent a damned amount of time sharpening it but.. _nothing._"

Tenten started to get annoyed and sat back down with a light thud.

"And?"

It wasn't until her father smirked the most devilish smile she had ever seen did she notice the feint smell of explosives.

"Father, do you smell that -"

She heard a small click and then her father threw it up into the air with the grace of a seasoned marksman. The small click was a second kunai he pulled out and threw it at an arc that collided with the first one seconds later. The explosion that followed was deafening.

Tenten felt a wave of admiration for her father at that point. The possibilities for this ingenious idea was astonishing. There were obviously still problems with it, as if one was carrying it and it was accidentally hit..

"Sweety, your mouth is hanging open. Its rude."

Tenten blushed.

"Hah. You think that's amazing? Wait until you see my idea of wall security.."

He started babbling about vibrations in walls and all jabber that she couldn't even tell what he was talking about anymore. Her dad, ever the engineer.

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-Much Earlier-

Naruto sat at his small cruddy table in his somewhat decent, if not shabby, apartment. Filling out the forms for the Chunin exams had been somewhat nostalgic.

When he was younger, the kids around him got rather excited around their birth dates. They expected presents, parties, and privileges usually denied to them. Naruto watched from afar, as kids whacked these animals stuffed with candy from a tree, watched as they blew blew out candles on a cake.. but the odd thing was he wasn't jealous of that.

He didn't care about the cake, or the presents, he cared about the attention and care they received. People would hug them, give them something, but no one ever gave him anything on his birthday. He in fact learn to not tell anyone of his birthday as people tended to not give a damn and responded with sarcasm. He wasn't sad about it, just confused.

He didn't get what was so important about a birth date. Or why cakes were given candles only to be blown off. Isn't that just a waste of wax?

He continued to scribble in information until he got to the "Whom to notify" in case he was killed, maimed or whatever. He almost put Jiraiya but stopped as he didn't know if Jiraiya had a last name or a permanent address. He scribbled down Hatake Kakashi and Umino Iruka, thinking those were safe answers and retrieved their addresses from his old notebook.

When he finished the application he groaned. At the last exam, these forms weren't given until the forbidden forest section of the test. That meant either the higher ups decided to just give them the forms now than later, or they would be dealing with crap from the beginning.

Still he thought, a joint exam between Leaf and Sand will be interesting no doubt. Especially since his own sensei was supposed to be one of the examiners...

He noticed he hasn't stopped moving around with the occasional twitches that caused him to crack his neck with a sickening combo of pops. He laughed to himself, his apartment was too clean. Too used to either the outdoors or shitty rooms that Jiyaiya got him (while the old bastard got himself suites that was basically right across the street) he found himself uncomfortable in his own apartment.

He got up to his closet and bags, pulled all his clothes out and threw them around the apartment.

He even kicked over his empty trashcan bin and turned on the faucet so that there was an audible dripping sound.

"Ah.. Finally feels like home.."

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Naruto woke up nauseous and threw up in bed. It was always the same dream. The same exact dream that before, woke him up feeling giddy and energized, but now..it was different.

It was Sakura again. He'd wonder in a bath house and find her waist deep in water with her back towards him. She'd look behind at him with a smile she'd hardly _ever_ directed at him and asked "Naruto! Could you scrub my back?"

As if he could resist in his dream sense, he would strip to the buff and let himself in the spring and slowly but surely, scrub her back. After he finished she would turn around, but the mist blocked out her girls (oddly enough it didn't really disappoint him) and give him a kiss that felt so real he'd wake up.

But instead of waking up to having her lips on his, she would suddenly pull back and have that same confused scared expression on her. She looked as is she'd been kissing something wild and dirty.. .

This was different from his normal nightmares, where his mind would construct whatever the hell was scaring him.. no.. this came right from his memories from the day before.

He prayed that he'd never see that face on Sakura again as he turned to the side of the bed and threw up whatever was left in his stomach into the trash. Groaning, Naruto got up from bed and went to the bathroom for a shower. He could handle Orochimaru. He could handle the Akatsuki. But his own friend.. It was like trying to shovel dirt down his throat.

"Ew. I feel like such a drama queen."

Naruto finished his shower and sent off two clones to clean up the mess he made.

"Why the hell do we have to clean up _your_ mess?" One clone asked as it pulled out disinfectant."

"Yeah. This is sick." The other said while making a face at the bits of chunks everywhere.

Naruto sighed. Why did his clones have to always talk back?

"Just do it. Jeez. You whine like little bitches." Naruto walked out looking for his backpack to pack. Again. At least this time it was for a purpose he was all for. The Chuunin exams, at the Sand of all places. Maybe he would bother their new Kazekage for sport.

When he finished packing, his clones walked out of the room and sat on the table.

"Whats for breakfast?"

Naruto dismissed them without a glance as he walked out the door.

As he walked through the streets, he noticed his neighborhood wasn't as shabby as it used to be. Sure it was still, technically the ghetto, but it sure wasn't as run down looking as it was a couple years ago. He guessed it was the forced renovations from the attack from Sound and Sand.

He frowned as he noticed the stormy looking clouds. He really didn't want to travel in the rain. It messed up the quality of his spikes. Parting the curtains of his favorite shop he took a big sniff.

"Damn. I missed waking up every morning to this."

"Naruto-kun!"

Naruto stopped smelling and opened his eyes to find Ayame and her two set of girls.

"You know, I wanted to ask you last time but.. where did you get _those_!" He yelled, pointing at the robust area of her body. For a brief moment, he was saddened to realize that a mere few years ago, that area of the body had never lured so much of this attention before.

Just how old was he getting?

That brief moment was in actual an eight second pause as Ayame stared at his blank face. She shook her head and continued working.

"They're fake."

Naruto snapped out of his stupor and finished his food with an undignified burp.

"Huh?"

"I lost a bet to a couple of friends now I have to wear these stupid eye sores." She grimaced as she pulled out some sort of weird jelly like ... thing.

"That's.. um.. nice.."

He sat around a bit, trying to figure out what to do. He wouldn't be leaving for sand anytime soon... He paid his bill and bid goodbye to Ayame as he sped off.

He pulled out his a small music player and switched the output to his portable speakers. He figured if people choose stare at him, they might as well enjoy his music as well. He'd been picking up speed and slowly putting the volume to max when he noticed he was being followed. He ignored them for a good ten minutes but then there was some sort of movement. He looked over his shoulder to see three ANBU personal waving at him to stop.

They all were in what he supposed was the standard uniform with them, along with their personal face mask in place.

There was one with a sort of what he guessed was the hawk design that stepped forward.

"Do you have any idea how _fast_ you were going, greenie?"

Naruto looked at him curiously and absentmindedly fiddled with his speakers.

"I dunno.."

The ANBU pulled out this metallic box that had a number of buttons on it. He pressed something and the number one hundred twenty-three showed up.

"You were hitting one hundred twenty-three miles per hour. In a fifty-fivespeed limit zone."

Naruto sputtered.

"Since when did we have to - "

"I'm going to have to give you a ticket, _greenie."_

"A ticket? What the f - "

"Finish that and that'll be an additional three hundred for defiance."

"Geh..."

Naruto definitely heard the other two ANBU snickering in the background. His anger growing at this ridiculous claim, he knew even if he could fight the three without letting loose some legal claim of him trying to betray the village, it'd be a pain in the ass.. Fighting three ANBU wasn't his idea of a good warm up.

He stood there as the one talking to him took out a piece of paper and started to scribble on it.

"Your name?"

"Uzumaki, Naruto."

The nin continued scribbling without looking up. He tore the sheet off the notepad and handed Naruto the ticket.

"Next time, lets try and keep the speed down, kid. Alright?"

"Yeah.. uh.. sir.."

Naruto heard snickering again but the trio already started dashing away.

Too annoyed and angry to even bother looking at the ticket he stuffed it in his pocket and headed, in which he just noticed, no where. He had no plans to meet anyone for hours. He was supposed to meet his team, among others since they were all traveling together near the gates later that night. He had a day to kill with nothing to do. It was what he wanted ever since he got back, but he was already regretting it.

Boring.

He wondered across town, aimlessly, apathetically. Those already passed the Chunin test were out doing what nins do, he couldn't bother Tsunade or Shizune, God knows what Kakashi did on his spare time, he'd avoid Sakura for as long as he could, and he stopped since walking into a wall does that to you.

"Ow."

He heard giggling to his left and saw two girls, teenagers really, laugh at his misfortune. Or carelessness. Either way.

"Something funny?" He asked, smiling from cheek to cheek.

The girls probably didn't think he'd actually asked them _that_ and actually blushed.

"Um.. nothing nothing. Hope you're -giggle- okay."

Naruto looked around him, wondering where the hell was as he rubbed his forehead.

"I think I'm okay. But is it me, or am I seeing double?"

"Double?" The girl asked looking around. She didn't see anyone around.

"Hm.. Maybe you hit yourself harder than you thought."

"Maybe." Despite the fact that the two figures he saw started to get hazy. How could he get so disorientated from walking into a damn wall?

The teenage girl, whom was actually twenty-four, eeped and ran over the the unconscious blond.

"Oh my.."

"Savuth! I'm going to skin you alive if thats you who touched the wall when I _told_ you directly not to!"

Savuth checked on Naruto's breathing and pulse and sighed relief.

"You're lucky he's not _dead_, Gen-san."

"Who's not dead?" Tenten asked, walking towards the scene with her father, Toei Gen.

Toei raised his eyebrow.

"What do you mean me? I told you to come out and make sure no one leans or touches this damned wall! What the hell were you thinking letting this punk near it?"

"Naruto! Dad, that's Naruto!"

Tenten ran over and knelt beside him.

Toei looked bored.

"And I should know him.. why?"

Thinking to herself, she couldn't think of anything of significance that he should. Like she'd tell her dad about her ity bity crush.

As Toei finally looked at the poor sap who had gotten in the way of his experiment, his eyes widened in recognition.

If the bright hair wasn't enough, the whisker like marks across his cheeks served as a dead give away.

"Now I know why you didn't stop him.." Toei said, a playful glare directed at Savuth.

Said assistant, Savuth, didn't seem to hear him.

"You thought he was cute."

She heard him there. She raised a hand to her chest, in her feeble attempt to defend herself.

"I did _not_."

"Did?" Tenten asked while smiling cheek to cheek.

"Shut up, you!"

"Alright then, my dear idiotic assistant. What other reason could have happened that while the two of you had your 'conversation' that you neglect to mention that this wall here is under vibrations strong enough to bring down a a coliseum!"

Tenten wiped some of the spit from her face.

"If that vibration was so powerful, why didn't the wall collapse as well?" She asked.

"I'm also experimenting with these unstable shields my colleagues created."

The blond stirred.

"Ow."

He got up resting on one of this hands while he massaged his head.

"The hell.. I don't remember drinking.." He murmured.

"How bad is that headache?"

"Tenten? Bleh.. Its pretty bad. Where am I?"

"Near my home. Dad.. is he going to be okay? With what you said about the vibrations.."

Toei scratched his chin.

"It shouldn't be that bad. The shield took a great deal of the vibrations, negating a large chunk."

Naruto glared at him.

"**That bad**? I feel like someone dropped a damn house on my head."

"Weren't for the shield whatever body part that touched the wall would have exploded."

Naruto was silent for moment before nodding.

"Fair."

Toei offered his hand towards him and Naruto accepted.

"Jeez, boy. You weigh a ton."

Tenten was happy to offer her two cents.

"He eats like a cow, dad."

"Dad?"

"Yes. That living katana standing besides you is my daughter. Sometimes I look at her and I feel so proud of my work."

Tenten groaned.

"Stop talking like that about me! It creeps me out." Her father continued beaming.

"So Naruto," Toei started as he slung an arm around the shorter blond "I hear you were one of the first shinobi ever to have defeated the great and fearless Hyuuga, Neji?"

He steered Naruto towards their home.

"Eh .. yeah. Though I'm not very ..proud of it.."

Whatever else the two said was garbled as they walked passed the wall.

Tenten looked at Savuth with a look of annoyance.

"And he said he didn't know him.."

"Oh you know how your father is. He just loves yanking your chain."

Tenten sighed as she followed them.

"Yeah. How sweet."

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Much to Tenten's annoyance and along with her suspicions of why Savuth was annoyed, her father and Naruto got along really well. Too well. The way they talked about fighting, techniques, and perverted jokes, you'd think they were old buddies.

"Will you two ever shut up?"

Toei and Naruto stared at her blankly for a minute before continuing their conversation.

Tenten took a sip of her apple juice and sighed.

Occasionally, Toei would whisper, point at Tenten and Naruto would laugh.

"Well this is fun."

Savuth took a glance at the man and boy and whispered, "Neh.. They talk with a lot of enthusiasm. You think they were women in their past lives?"

Thinking about the utter absurdity of it all, and the fact that Savuth is supposedly in the process of studying physics..

"What?"

"Oh nothing. Its just that I had to take an elective so I choose religion. Currently we're on Buddhism, and the idea of reincarnation just.. I dunno.. stuck with me."

"Thats great, real great."

The two actively began their not so subtle methods of snooping. They were only across the table.

"Still, though what you've done so far isn't far short of remarkable, I'd still have to say defeating a top upper class man seems to be the most astounding thing you've done so far. Here you are, lowest grades ever, not one person expects you to win, and you pull a monkey out of your ass and bingo, down goes the Hyuuga."

Naruto seemed to ponder what he said before replying.

"I used to think that to, but that win against him, was .. so lucky to me. Neji didn't expect me to be any challenge at all. And thinking back, if I was in his shoes, I would have done the same. If he had known what I was capable of, if he had known just how much punishment I could take, I would have lost."

"I suppose. Still, I bet you felt pretty good."

Naruto let out a small laugh.

"Yeah. I sure did."

Her father turned and aimed a curious, but slightly devious look at her.

"Who did you think was going to win?"

Naruto saved her of having to answer. "Heh, its alright. I'm probably sure she thought he was going to win. It would be kind of bad of her to root against her own teammate after all."

She felt a little sick in the stomach since she was fairly sure Naruto was going to loose. His fight with Kiba was sloppy and just showed how incompetent he was. But then he goes on to defeat Neji, then that monster Gaara. What next? Single handedly take down every missing-nin in the bingo book?

"Good Kami, he probably would.." She muttered out loud.

"Who would what?" Savuth asked.

"Nothing.."

"Say you two, when do you head off for the Chunin Exams?"

"Tomorrow."

Toei clasped his hands together in thought. "Hmm.. Might be enough time to touching up the kunais.."

The rest of the day was rather uneventful. Naruto, ever the curious little brat he was, would poke around the tool shed while Toei would give the family history, or explain what certain weapon Naruto happened to cut his finger on was used for. To the outsider, it looked as if Naruto was fully disrespecting his elder with his inapt attention, but the teen was listening on to every word.

Never had any ever told Naruto about their family tree, let alone history. With his own blank of knowledge of himself, he probably would have been interested in the origins of the seaweed. It also helped his attention that Toei greatly reminded him of Sandaime. Kind, wouldn't mind getting teased a bit, and all the more important, accepting. He even had that grandfatherly look to him, though he tended to smack him over the head a lot.

Toei always had wanted a son. Though he never regretted Tenten, he still wanted a boy. Tenten had mastered every skill he taught her, learned things most kunoichi wouldn't bother with, always obedient and never a disappointment. But he still wanted a son. And here comes along the Kyuubi-child. Toei honestly didn't know what to expect about him. When Sandaime had announced that Kyubi was sealed within a baby, he was rather numb and didn't know what to feel. Yondaime was a great man, but then again, the idea of putting a demon within a child was beyond him. With the loss of all of his older siblings weighing on his mind, he was rather apathetic about it and never gave it much thought.

He wondered if anyone had ever tried adopting the teen before him. But if he remembered right, and if rumors actually hold true, not only does Godaime think of him as her own brother, but he went on a two year trip with Jiraiya. That's two of the Sannins he's on good with. The only person who could say that would be Shizune, but Jiraiya currently held the status of village pervert so that isn't boasting much.

"You know, Naruto, that you're the first person ever to listen to the whole family history?"

The teen was experimenting with some nunchaku idly.

"Really? Hah. Back at the academy, I wouldn't be the first choice to want to sit next to if you wanted help. But recently, history and all that past stuff is actually ..I don't know... interesting."

Toei leaned against the wall and rubbed his chin in thought.

"Well then, young man, if you're that motivated you can continue to study in those areas, along with a few others and land a position in the Council."

"The Council? You mean the Village Council, the only group who can directly bother the current Hokage?"

"Of course. All you need is to have served active duty in Genin, Chunin, and Jonin. Along with perhaps several years of learning. There _are_ time requirements for the length of duty so if you're motivated enough, you can be actively be involved with the Hokage by the time you're perhaps.. thirty? Maybe thirty-five or so. It all depends on you."

"Wow. Never thought about Council positions."

He itched his nose idly for a moment before looking pensive.

"Have.. Have you ever had a goal that was never really for yourself?"

"Living yourself for others? A bit sacrificial perhaps?"

"No.. More like.. Ah .. I've wanted to become Hokage so people would finally look up to me with respect."

Toei stared.

"But.. I think.. that if you really want to be Hokage.. You really have to love this village.. as well as its people. Every one of our Hokage so far died fighting for the village.. I'd die for my friends.. not this village."

Naruto unconsciously rubbed over the small prick of a scar over his right lung.

"Naruto. As I have grown and matured over the years, my number one piece of advise for a person such as yourself, besides following orders, _you_ do whatever the hell _you_ want to do."

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"Have mercy, are those two _still _talking?" Lyn asked.

Savuth had long ago gone home, and for the past several hours, Lyn, along with her daughter had been watching the two respective men make conversation all day long.

"It seems so." Tenten muttered.

Lyn heaved a sigh.

"Your father had always wanted a boy."

"Really?" Tenten felt a bit put off on that. She knew she had never done anything extra ordinary. That didn't help being paired taijutsu demon Lee, or the genius Byakugan wielding Neji.

Of course, what she didn't notice was that she mastered nearly every technique given to her.

"Oh don't give me that look. We both love you very much. Its just that he wanted a boy. Of which he wanted to name Alfonzo."

Lyn made a face.

"Alfonzo?"

"Don't ask me because I don't know either. You're father is such an oddball."

"Tell me about it."

"But Oh-so studly."

"Mom. Please."

"What? He was. Now he's just an old fart. And I've retained all of my natural beauty."

Tenten was gagging behind her mother.

"Do you know what I'm wondering most? You're nearing eighteen and you're not even a Chunin."

"Mom.."

"Yes yes.. I know.. certain things.. this and that, but honestly. You have all the qualities to become one. You're level headed, strong... I honestly don't know why Gai wouldn't put you in any of the exams after your first failed opportunity."

Tenten remembered Temari well. Dear Kami did she want to stab her in the back. Damn politics. She couldn't just kill her now..

"Do you know how much you've saved up over the past five years? With the collective interest, and then you don't spend a dime... Do you know how much you have?"

Tenten shook her head. "Its not that much mother. Probably enough to live on my own for a year or two. Genin wages mom."

"Dear. I'm well aware of the many Chunin level missions you took."

"Okay, several years on my own."

Their conversation was cut short as Toei burst into the kitchen.

"Lyn! Do you know what _this _is?!" He yelled frantically waving a piece of paper.

"No.. What?" She nabbed it out of her hysterical husband's hands.

She gasped.

Naruto walked in.

"Old man, what the hell are you doing? Its just a ticket."

Toei smacked him over the head.

"Idiot! I've wanted a ticket from the ANBU for years! I never got it!"

"Huh?"

"ANBU are an elite group. You don't just say 'Hey let me join!'. You are hand picked. Watched over for years, maybe months. This isn't a speeding ticket you moron, this is an _invitation._"

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SeikoTuNeR: Suck on that for the next year! Kidding!


	9. Chapter 8

**SeikoTuNeR: **Hey, everyone. To be truthfully honest, I'm at a loss. I've been loosing focus on this story ever since I was accused of stealing the 'Drunken Lee goes nuts at the party' scene from LD 1449's 'Demons glory' in its 38th chapter. Some of you should recognize him; he's written some fairly big hitters. I'm not THAT bitter at him, since I called him out on it and he apologized, its the fact that I got accused of STEALING. Especially since Blondie has review dates in the second chapter before that guy was even a member of this place. And whoever it was that accused me of it, you're a moron.

Disclaimer: Naruto is the property of Kishimoto and what not. I'm only writing this for fun.

Chapter 8

The great, well, actually not so great Suna Village is very large. If push comes to shove, the great land of sand can nearly accommodate a large portion of Konoha. But the possibility of it actually happening was extremely low. A good three fourths of the land was and still is uninhabitable. Springs are a rarity throughout the desert and the ones that are found are given special care for tourism.

And thus we find Temari. On her trek back home from Konoha, she had come across a small spring, already sprouting a bit of an oasis around. Not bothering to report the finding since it was a bit too far from the encampment, she set up to laze about the small piece of paradise. She was, after all, a bit too close to chakra exhaustion. For a typical shinobi, from Konoha to Suna was a three day trip. But with her mastery of wind and her fan, flying across the way was a easy. But she shouldn't have flown all the way here. She was in fact rather lucky she found the oasis. Being a good fifty miles away might have been too risky along with the damned heat. Plus with the exams soon coming, it might be her **only** chance for a little rest and relaxation.

Filling all of her water containers with the spring she took off all of her clothes and dipped herself into the spring, contamination be damned. A good couple of hours later, Temari deemed herself fit to go home.

Perhaps it was because she was too tired, but she never noticed a wide eyed Naruto staring at her from behind. Nor did she ever notice him stealing her extra fan while she was resting. Or her underwear for that matter.

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'He cant do it. There's no flipping way.'

Those were the general floating thoughts floating about in the minds of those ready to leave for Suna. Apparently, the Jonin chaperons had left a day before, leaving only three teams to fend for themselves and make their way to the desert.

Naruto had been complaining. Loudly.

"Bah! I do NOT want to burn three days trying to get there!"

Neji was busying himself with trying to spot ANBU personnel running about the village.

"And how else do you suppose we get there then? I'd rather not head there at full speed the entire time and possibly die before the exam even _starts._"

Naruto sported a wide grin.

"Wanna take a bet? In fact.. does ANYONE want to take a bet?"

The group Naruto had been addressing was an odd one. The remaining 'Rookie 9' that had not rose to the Chunin rank was Kiba, Ino, Sakura, and Naruto. Team Gai was loafing around nearby, while Sakura's fan groupies, Team 16, seemed to be giving Naruto apt attention. Although the male of the group looked extremely out of his mind in a passive sort of way. If it was possible.

"I'm game. I need some money for a new set of pouches." Though Kiba neglected to mention why, but it was obvious with Akamaru sitting there gnawing on what any moron could guess, a kunai pouch. One would note that it was a very _large_ Akamaru.

Naruto looked rather maniacal at that point. Though Team Gai wouldn't have notice since Lee attempted to push himself off the ground with only his hips..

Tenten sighed.

"Lee, find a dictionary and look up the word 'tact'."

Naruto clapped his hands.

"Ahem! Does any one think I can bring something back from the Suna village in the next ...uuh.. five minutes?"

"Naruto," Neji began, "traveling by foot there is a three day trip. The fastest anyone has _ever _reached Suna without killing themselves was roughly a little over a day. What sort of asinine bet are you trying to pull? Five minutes? Don't make yourself an even bigger idiot than you already are."

"Are you saying that you'd take that bet?"

In the brief moment of silence, an odd phenomenon occurred. Time seemed to have froze for everyone but himself. As he surveyed everyone, _everyone_ looked so wrong. Despite the fact that everyone seemed to be nonchalant and relaxing, there were signs showing otherwise. He noticed Kiba and Akamaru located to the front of the group, towards the main gate. Though he was sitting down, and in the middle of a yawn, there seem to be a sort of tension and alert state to the way he was in mid motion. Akamaru was sniffing directly towards the main gate, as if expecting something. Ino was up against a wall, but the way she was positioned, she could easily have grabbed a kunai and hurl it in any directions except for the wall behind her.

He idly noted that she filled out, very _much_ so.

Sakura was in the same sort of stance she used when she had fought him. It didn't look like much, but in a way, she could easily move to another position for an incoming attack.

Tenten looked, to him at least, erotically dangerous. She was in the middle of flicking a set of customized shurikens and the way she was hunched over in a crouch showed Naruto very much that she was prepared for anything.

Lee didn't look like he could do much lying on the ground, but as a taijutsu user, he could attack from virtually any position. And there were no weights on him.

With the way the fresh Genin were positioned, the trio was flanked to his left. They had filled the gap between Kiba and Lee. The whole grouped actually had a perimeter around him.

Then there was Neji.

Naruto was never in denial during the first Chunin exam. He had watched Neji effortlessly beat Hinata. Despite her efforts, she hadn't even managed to make him break a sweat. Then there was Lee's declaration of Neji being stronger than himself. Naruto was already in a bit of awe of Lee's strength..

He knew he had a slim chance of defeating him, foolishly hoping Kakashi was going to teach him some trick to easily defeat the Hyuuga. He was so immature. He narrowly won that match. With help from the demon and his usual unpredictable scheming, he literally got under Neji's guard and delivered the Kyubi powered upper-cut.

Looking at Neji now, Naruto could hardly believe this young man held the rank of Genin. Neji was on guard, on alert, and was prepared for anything.

Time was going back on track, and for all his bravado and mouth, Naruto was left speechless.

Something was odd.

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"Naruto?" Sakura was genuinely concerned. After Naruto tried to goad Neji into a bet, he spaced out for ten or so seconds.

He seemed to be scrutinizing something then his eyebrows quirked. It was definitely odd.

"I'll take that bet."

Naruto didn't seem to pay any attention to Neji.

"Naruto!" Neji asked, a bit loudly.

Naruto's eyes darted over to Neji then had a very suspicious look on his face.

Sakura walked up to him.

"Whats the matter with you? You blanked out just now."

"Nothing..Anyway! Alright, who's on the bet for me bringing something back in less then five minutes?"

Silence.

"Okay, who's on the bet against me not getting there?"

There was a loud unison of "Me".

Naruto giggled.

"More money for Gama-chan!"

A clone popped into existence but Naruto moved too quickly for anyone to be surprised. He dumped all of his money into the clones hands and counted.

"Alrighty! I have about six hundred altogether. If I don't win, you guys can spread the cash out yourselves."

Ino was the first to object, interestingly enough.

"Hey! Not all of us want to bet _that_ much."

Naruto gave her an appraising smile that almost made her blush. Almost.

"You think I might have a chance?"

She snorted.

"No, but I don't carry that sort of money on me, ramen-head. I only have... a hundred or so."

Naruto shrugged.

"Everyone can bet what they want. Hand it to my clone."

With everyone's glare, Naruto sighed.

"Damn. Its not like I don't LIVE in the same damn village with you people. Give it to the newbies. They're not allowed to bet in this."

They protested.

"What do you mean _we_ can't bet?!"

"Hell if I know, but your huge scary Jonin sensei said no betting. To me. Screw him if I'm going to be a babysitter for you little tots!"

The three grumbled but wordlessly took the money from their elders.

"Oh! I see! Don't want to hand the money to Naruto, your adorable friend, but to a group of newbies, its OKAY?"

Everyone made it out of their way to ignore him. Though Tenten was feeling rather mean today.

"Aww, its okay." She pinched his cheek and gave it a little shake.

"To make it all up, I'll give you the honor of being my donkey for the day."

With that said, she hopped on his shoulders and grabbed his hair.

"Good donkey!"

Naruto was just about to shout when he noticed Lee walked up to him with a very humble expression.

"Be a good donkey, Naruto. The path of the donkey is lonesome and hard. The road is narrow as it is dark, you shall be downtrodden, abused, but always remember, that you have been chosen to be the next, _donkey_."

"Damn it, Lee! Do you always have to spoil my fun?" Tenten dismounted Naruto and gave Lee the finger.

Lee leaned in rather close and whispered, "You're welcome."

Naruto burst into laughter and slapped Lee's back.

"You're awesome, Lee, really. Haha! Man. What a guy.. Okay everyone done?" He whistled. "You guys are really going to make me rich."

Kiba slapped his hands together.

"Alright then, blondie, if you're _really_ going to try you have to bring back some sort of proof.. some undeniable proof."

"Sand would work." Neji said.

Kiba shook his head.

"There's lots of river banks nearby _with_ sand."

"But the sand from the suna village has unique minerals only identifiable from that area." Lee piped up.

"Feh. You guys are lame. Naruto, try and get some .." his voice lowered to a whisper " _undergarments from Temari._"

Both Sakura and Ino threw a rock at him.

"You're such a pig, why do I have to be teamed up with a _pervert?" _Ino complained.

Naruto smirked. "No problem."

Kiba glared. "You can't fake it either. I got a nose and Akamaru is here. And since we both remember her smell, you know what that means." His glare turned into a lecherous grin.

This time, _all_ of the females threw a rock.

"Oh come on! It was a joke! Like he's _really_ going to to suna and steal that crazy blonde's thong. Its not going to happen." Kiba deadpanned.

"No problem, dog-breath. I got you covered."

Kiba nodded along, playing along thinking Naruto couldn't do it.

"It better be fresh. I'll know if its been sitting somewhere out there in the forest."

Neji lightly coughed.

"This deal may be better than you girls would think. He has been traveling around for nearly three years. He easily could have hidden sand somewhere around. But as Kiba said, its easy to spot and notice -cough- used undergarments that's been settled down somewhere.."

Naruto waved his hands.

"Whatever. Alright. No peeking!"

A large group of clones popped into existence and formed a wall between everyone and Naruto.

"Neji! No stupid Byakugen!"

Neji glared and reluctantly turned it off.

"I got five minutes starting... now!"

A large puff of smoked revealed no more clones and minus one Uzumaki Naruto.

"Neji, Byakugen!" Tenten said.

Neji was already on it. He frowned.

"He can't be that fast. Wherever he is, he's out of my eight hundred meter scan."

Tenten cursed.

"I emptied all I had on me! You don't think he'd notice if I took some out right now do you?"

Lee waggled his finger.

"That would be highly dishonorable."

"Shut up. How much time is left?"

The stoned looking newbie replied.

"Four minutes and forty-six seconds."

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As fast as he could, he ripped out the demon's chakra and ripped open a portal. He envisioned the land of sand, near the outskirts of the village. He meant to go closer but he couldn't remember what Temari's home looked like.

As he stepped out of the portal, he felt her. Temari held a distinguishable aura that he could tune to immediately. He guessed it was because of her constantly around Gaara. He never really knew for sure. Wondering what she was doing out here in the middle of no where he lightly padded through the dunes. He edged just above the sand hill to view Temari, wind user extraordinaire, bathing.

Naked.

The only true reason for Naruto to not just stand there and stare like a complete idiot was traveling Jiraiya. With the old lecher leading them places, a beautiful naked female wasn't a site not common. Remembering his mission, as well as the large sum of easy earned cash, he grabbed her conveniently placed underwear and miniature battle fan. He edged back, ripped open another portal and went back.

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"Naruto has less than forty-five seconds left."

Ino looked a bit giddy.

"Someone please tell me they don't want their share of his loot? Dear god!"

Everyone felt a wave of nauseating charka then Yamanaka's piercing shriek came from the form of Naruto right to her side with an arm snaked over her shoulder.

"Oh.. _Hell_ no.." Kiba was sniffing. Sniffing rather noisily..

Neji was the second to voice his disbelief.

"Inuzuka.. It _can't_ be real." There was a sense of curious dread to his voice. He was carrying a lot of money on him..But Naruto _couldn't _have done it..

Naruto, a very smug looking Naruto, flung the tiny bit of cloth at Kiba.

"Oh my.. And I thought you couldn't be MOREdisgusting!" Sakura accused. The rest of the females shared her sentiments.

"Hey! I'm investigating the truth of the used undergarment! For all you scent challenged morons, HE " Kiba made a big show of pointing at the orange glad nin " could have taken some other dame's panties! So sorry if I don't want to loose cash!"

Akamaru seemed to bark in agreement.

"Yeah.. You tell em', boy!"

Both Lee and Kiba were inspecting said garment, though no one noticed, Neji kept glancing in their direction.

"Settle down, children! I brought back something for the girls to look at too!" He delicately pulled out Temari's customized miniature fan.

Tenten held it in near awe.

"The grooves, the complex patterns and designs.. It's.. really Temari's.."

Naruto danced to the current holder of the prize. "Ahem... So I'll be taking this.."

"Wait a second!"

Naruto sighed.

"What, Ino?"

"This. Is. Bullshit. How in the _world_ did you travel _that_ far in less than five minutes? It's impossible! Is Temari around here somewhere? You can't.. you"

"Now now.." Naruto chided. "A bet is a bet. Dog-breath, smell me, I know I even smell like sand."

"Yeaaah.. He does, Ino."

"See?"

Ino twitched.

"Its too.."

"Absurd? Inconceivable? Stupidly, insanely, not even remotely possible?"

Sakura sighed.

"That's Naruto.."

Ino twitched.

"How can ANY of you believe he somehow ran all the way there? There's nothing humanely possible he could have done to get there that fast!"

For a slight nanosecond, Neji along with a few others, felt a burst of.. something and by the time it was over Naruto was once again by Ino's side with an arm around her shoulder.

"Aww c'mon, Ino-_chan_. You have no faith in the abilities of your ex-classmate?"

Just before she could reply, a number of Naruto's came walking in from different directions.

"Who says I ran there?" One said.

"Who says I didn't ran there?" Another.

"Who says I was even here in the first place?"

Naruto gave a wide grin. Misleading people was rather fun. To him at least.

Tenten eyes went wide.

"You cheater!"

All expressions of outrage neatly butted out the fact that they thought Naruto had somehow manage to control his clones miles away stole Temari's belongings and made a 3 day trip back to come back right on time for this sole single event.

_And people called ME dumb.._

Keeping up his misleading rouse he lifted a hand.

"The bet started five minutes ago. What I was doing before that doesn't count. And I clearly said, in the next five minutes."

Tenten shook her head.

"You are something else, you know that? You're **evil**. You planned all this out so that you'd arrive sometime around now to show what you brought?"

Kiba interrupted.

"No. These are fresh. She couldn't have took them off more than fifteen minutes ago.."

Everyone looked at Naruto expectantly.

"Pff. Like I'll tell you my little secret."

After a bout of silence Ino bopped Kiba on the head.

"Honestly, will you stop staring at it? Pervert."

Kiba begrudgingly put it away.

"Fine."

"Oh my .. Kiba! Get rid of it!" Ino shrieked.

Kiba reluctantly tossed it to the ground.

"Sheez.. Act like its _her_ damn thong..."

"Say something?"

"..talking to Akamaru."

Sakura rolled her eyes and glanced at her watch.

"We need to be going, people. Is everyone ready?"

"Eeh, Tenten! Could you do that sealing thing you do for Temari's fan? I'd hold it but.. I might break it."

Naruto handed her the fan while she looked puzzled.

"You sure you want to give this to me? I might still carry a grudge against her, you know?"

Naruto waved her off.

"Bah. If you do anything to it, it'll be on _your_ head and not mine. So its fine by me."

"Jeez, Naruto. You're so sweet." She deadpanned.

"Absolutely!"

Naruto beamed at her and walked over to where Neji and Kiba discussing the route to Suna.

"I say we keep an easy pace and rest once a day for several hours or more. It shouldn't take much more than four days."

Naruto nodded fiercely.

"I'm with Kiba."

"We **should**__keep to schedule. We **should** head there moderately fast and only rest when needed. It would be better if we had a day or two to survey the village and get a feel of our surroundings."

Naruto scratched his head.

"Hmm. That makes sense.. I don't know. Let the girls decide." He then added quietly "They'll be doing the most complaining so you might as well."

Neji put on his best -I-don't-really-care face on.

"Ladies. Decide amongst yourselves which would be better. An easy moderate pace that would leave us a day to ourselves at Suna to roam, or a more faster approach in which we'd have two days or so to roam. Which will it be?"

wwww

"Quit your smirking, Hyuuga!" Kiba barked.

"I'm not really sorry but sorry. I'm pleasantly surprised by the decision made by our female counterparts."

"Yeah, you _would_." Kiba muttered.

They had been traveling now for a few hours and Sakura kept giving Naruto sorrowful glances. They were supposed to be friends. And because of their infernal teenage hormones, it, for the time being, seemed totally ruined. Not to mention all the times she insulted him or compared him to Sasuke.. Sakura's lips formed a thin line with a glare towards Naruto. She refused to let her friendship with someone who seemed willing to go to hell and back just to keep a promise made when they were stupid kids.. With a burst of speed she linked her arm with his tried to give him a warm smile. Though the smile lost most of its effectiveness when the person its directed to lost the circulation to his left arm.

"Sakura?" His confusion easily read through his eyes, and with the death grip on his arm, he didn't try to break free and continued to run. Sakura held on firm.

"Yeah, we kissed, Naruto. We kissed and we enjoyed it. But I didn't recoil in horror because of _you._ I recoiled because of what could have happen that would almost certainly burn any chance a strong friendship between us. Do you realize there are only four strong male figures in my life? My father, Kakashi-sensei.." She seemed to pause for a bit as if considering what to say next. "Sasuke, and _you_."

Naruto's eyes widened.

"I had no idea.."

"Do you even know _why_ I was so ticked off when you horsed around pretending to be _David_ instead of speaking to me? You were gone for two years, Naruto. Two long years with no letters or _anything_. I thought of all the things I wanted to say to you, there was.. too much."

The pair had slowed down the pace a bit to lag behind the others but close enough that every eavesdropping individual could hear every word.

"I don't even know where to begin.. I.. I'm sorry. I'm sorry for all the shit I've thrown your way. I'm sorry for all the insults, I'm sorry for all the times I compared you to Sasuke, I'm sorry for the shitty way .. I..I've treated you the entire time I knew you. Please forgive me for the calloused way I treated you and your lack of family."

The two had stopped running completely.

"Should we stop too?" Tenten asked. Ino shook her head.

"Whatever is going on between those two, its been a long time coming..We should slow down a bit though."

Sakura had long released his arm and Naruto awkwardly pulled her into a hug.

"Sakura.. You didn't need to apologize. With all the crap that bastard pulled, I'm still willing let him back _with_ questions asked. You think I haven't already forgiven you just because you were a bitch?"

Sakura wiped her watery eyes and nodded.

"I guess I deserved that."

Naruto smiled.

"Feh. And _then_ some."

wwww

No one said a word when the duo returned. Ino gave Sakura a look but she waved it off. Which basically meant 'I'll tell you later.' But the boys could only guess. The rather large group had been traveling for a while until Tenten noticed a certain jailer was missing.

"Where the hell did Naruto go?" Everyone looked around and sure enough he wasn't around.

"How long have you noticed he's been gone?" Kiba asked Neji suddenly.

"The second he disappeared. Which was nearly ten minutes ago." Neji really didn't seem to care though.

Kiba rubbed his chin in thought.

"Yeah. But the second he disappeared I caught a whiff of something _dank_. But it smelled familiar. Yah know, he smelled like that when he disappeared for the bet. You think maybe he has gas?"

Sakura gave Kiba a large smile.

"Come now, Kiba. You of _all_ people should know what _that_ smells like."

The laughs all stopped at a single question.

"Did anyone catch all the times Naruto blanked out?" Ino had asked in a soft voice, something that years later when asked about, Ino would vehemently deny.

"Jiraiya-sama mentioned that Naruto might space out and that its nothing to worry about.." Tenten ventured. "Did he ever do things like that before?"

No one knew and they all looked to Sakura.

"No.. Not that I ever noticed at least.."

The fresh Genin were totally lost. Apparently there had been some sort of briefing about Naruto and they knew nothing about it.

"I could have sworn.." Ino started again in her highly lower volume tone, "For a split second he glared at us."

"Not so much of a glare, but more of a distinct face of suspicion." Neji corrected.

"What I don't friggen understand is, why the hell would Jiraiya tell us to not worry if spaz spaces out? Naruto's been spacin' out since the friggen _academy_! Hell, Shikamaru probably did it more than he did!" Kiba voiced out loud.

It was all rather confusing. After the forms for the exams were filled out and turned in, the toad hermit had suddenly appeared and issued an odd warning about Naruto.

"Naruto doesn't look like it, but he's quite the thinker. You'd all be surprised with all the crap going on through his head every minute. So if you happen notice him .. maybe a little too quiet and he doesn't respond to the usual smack, don't worry about it. In fact, it'd be better if you ignored it entirely when he does.."

With a smile and a wink, the odd old man disappeared. No further explanation or any sort of follow up to his odd statement.

"That crazy old coot wouldn't have said something like that for no reason. But the fact that he said it but then told us to not worry about it makes it all the more insanely annoying!" Kiba pulled out a piece of jerky and started to chew.

"What the hell is his angle? And why the hell is that idiot the source of all my miseries today?" Kiba had been absentmindedly patting the now thin wallet in his pocket.

"Screw you! You lost like a typical sucker, so quit whining about it already!"

Naruto had once again popped up behind them several meters but was holding a bowl of noodles.

"Stop phasing in and out like that! And where the hell did you get ramen?"

Naruto chuckled knowing Ino had no idea how true she was.

"I stopped and made a quick fire. Duh. Some shinobi you'll make,_ Ino." _In truth he went all the way back to the stand but wasn't quite up to mentioning his unique ability just yet. He gave her a smile and stuck out his tongue to let her know he was just teasing but she got fired up all the same.

"You little..!" Her voice trailed off as Naruto gave her the most piercing stare she had ever seen on anyone directed towards _her_.

Piercing meaning leaving her weak in the knees and blushing. Slightly. Till she figured out what he did.

"Since when did _you_ learn to do genjutsu like that?!"

"Bah. Don't bust a vein over it. It was a simple little trick. If someone like maybe Kakashi-sensei used it, you'd be a blubbering piece of mush."

Ino glared.

"And did anyone think that maybe Jiraiya was just screwing with all of you?" Naruto said, startling everyone since he heard. Despite all all of Jiraiya's faults of taking his money when he obviously had plenty, womanizing perverted way, or grueling training scheme, Naruto was more annoyed at his suspicions than anything.

He had never actively seek to commune with Kyubi. It had all been accidental. Jiraiya had given him a little over an hour of free time. He chose to use that time to meditate. Though meditation was supposed to be used to free your mind of all distractions, he in a bit of an unconventional way used it to ponder his life thus far. He nit picked his childhood, looking at how he could have done better to perhaps make himself more approachable to his classmates, study harder, and possibly his one most regrettable experience, the things he said when he had first tried to befriend Sasuke.

Sasuke wasn't actually all that bad before his parents were murdered. He was just one of those kids that tried hard and actually paid attention in class. When he or Naruto would bump into another during the year, he was never rude or insulted him. Naruto, in his immaturity never tried to hang around since he was top of the class and Naruto found himself rather low in the rankings. But when they both found themselves the parent less duo of the class, Naruto remembered his first lines of stupidity that seemed to have changed Sasuke's opinion of him. It vaguely went something like this, "Hey you know, we're not all that different. We both don't have parents.. maybe we should try and be friends?" And thus rivalry began.

As time went on with his continued meditation, he slowly would find himself in the familiar dark almost sewer like area of his mind. But he would immediately snap out of it, afraid of its inhabitant. But curiosity finally got the better of him and he ventured in.

Naruto cautiously stepped towards the dim light at the end of the tunnel. His hands guiding himself along the wall, he noticed he couldn't _feel_ the wall. He couldn't feel the ankle deep water, he couldn't smell, all his senses were void.

The complications of the sealing technique just left him confused so he just left it alone and lumbered towards the gigantic beast behind bars.

"Human."

There wasn't the usual anger or or murderous tone in the voice of the fox. It was more along the lines of acknowledging the fact that there was an odd smell coming from the toilet.

Naruto didn't respond.

The fox gave a yawn but Naruto could feel it gathering that foul nauseating chakra. Jiraiya had always pestered him to call upon the fox's power, but he was always reluctant. It wasn't that he felt that using it was unsportsmanlike. With all the crap he got for imprisoning the damn thing, he felt justified if he used it more often, but the fox's chakra was just unbelievably foul. It reeked of death and decay, and always left him feeling dirty.

And he could feel Kyubi forming it near its paw so fast he couldn't react correctly. He started back peddling when he saw a long row of sharp teeth.

He assumed the demon was grinning. It suddenly struck at the bars. Instead of hearing the clang from hitting the bars, its paw seemed to have disappeared and materialized right before him.

And plowed right through his torso.

"Eh?"

The fox gave a grunt and yawned again. Naruto was waving his arms through its paw before Kyubi pulled it back.

"You can't touch me, can you? Eh, bitch?"

Naruto's insulting didn't seem to stir Kyubi at all.

"I don't understand your need to ask _stupid_ questions. Did you not just notice my claws go cleanly through your body? Stupid lump of flesh."

"Of course I noticed you stupid bastard. I was just trying to see if I can piss you off since you can't do squat about it!

The fox started to gnaw on his paws.

"Does your idiocy knows no bounds? Of all the worthless mortals I get sealed in, it has to _you_. I receive no sense of notoriety of being imprisoned in you. You're just some worthless human with _cheap tricks."_

"Notoriety? You tellin' me you'd be a little less grumpy if I was famous for something?"

The fox didn't respond. It just kept gnawing on its paws.

"Stop fucking doing that!"

"I'll stop when you cease being worthless and stupid."

Naruto narrowed his eyes.

"Worthless and stupid? Can a lowly human like me copy exactly what you did a minute ago? Eh? Watch!"

Kyubi snorted.

"Inter dimensional rifts are simple. Even a fool like you can accomplish such a mundane task."

Naruto ignored the Kyubi and tried anyway. He concentrated on drawing on its power, though the implications of what he was doing was giving him a 'mental headache'. He was within his mind drawing on the power within him.

He laughed.

Feeling the foul chakra flow through him, though slightly annoyed how he 'felt' it, he focused it to his hand, using the way he forms the Rasengan to give it shape.

"The hell do I do now? Maybe if...."

He focused on continually maintaining it and drew his hand away. It looked as a sphere of red blackish chakra swirling around in mid-air. He put his hand through and watched his hand disappear.

"HOLY SHIT!"

He stuck his arm in until his shoulder wouldn't allow him to move no further.

"If I add more?" Putting more into the blob, it was big enough to fit him.

"Sweeeeet." He stepped in.

He couldn't fathom what was going on. He panicked as he stumbled around failing to regain balance. He felt as if he were in the incarnation of chaos.

Dark angry colors whirled around him, his sense of balance was off and he was thrown to the floor, better described as muck that seem to want to eat him alive. He wildly looked around for some sense of _order_ but found none. He wondered aimlessly for what felt like hours. He couldn't use chakra. Not his or the monster's. A sense of desperation ran through his body.

How long would he be stuck here?

He plopped on the ground. Even now, the ground seemed to slowly cover his body.

"Stupid hungry floor! Quit it!" He shook it off.

"I'd rather be back with the stupid fox in the stupid dank sewer with the stupid water with the stupid bars.."

Slowly an image appeared before the landscape and began to form into exactly that.

A watery sort of image appeared before him. It was the sewers. He tried to dip his hand through.

"Weird. Oh heeell no!" He walked through. He found himself standing before the gates that held the almighty Kyubi.

"Did you enjoy your time in the world between worlds?"

"You set me up! Stupid DEMON. How long was I freaking wondering around?!"

"I must admit, mortal, that you came out much sooner than expected."

"How LONG?!"

The fox stopped talking.

"You're boring me."__With another yawn the fox just went back to sleep.

"Gaah! Stupid fox.. stupid Hokages running around sealing demons into babies.."

Naruto sat in the murky water and began to meditate again.

"The hell with this place.."

*************

Thus began, Naruto thought, Jiraiya's somewhat justified paranoia. Its not everyday a Jinchūriki runs around and yell about the fact that a demon had taught its jailer something.

Kinda. More like hoping it could cause its container some grief but nonetheless, taught.

Back to the situation at hand, only Sakura responded.

"Okay, if Jiraiya-sama is just messing with us, we all noticed you blanking out for a bit."

"Yeah.. So I was thinking about something. You guys were all standing around pretending to be doing _nothing_ when I'm damned sure you all were waiting for someone to attack us or something."

"We're ninjas you moron. Of course we're all like that!"

"Blah blah, whatever pinky!"

The group resumed a quicker pace when the two started bickering.

Neji sighed, though how he sighed while looking stoic was anyone's guess.

"This is going to be a long three days."

SeikoTuNeR: Hmm.. A select few wants this to jump to the romance.. Bleh. I dunno.

And where's all the love from the Metal Gear Subsistence players? Damn it all! I cannot BELIEVE they took down the online play. I almost want to move to Europe because the servers over there are still up and running.

Damn them all!

Anyway, the last few chapters may seem dry to all my action oriented readers out there, but it should pick up in this next chapter. One more flash back to go and action time! But I've been re-reading and there's lots of stuff I want to redo in this fic so far. Do some good ol' fashioned editing. So don't be surprised if the next update is a bit slow.

If anyone is interested, I scoured the damn web for at least ONE damn Naruto/Tenten fan drawing.

I found one. Its a bit on the erotic side but nothing explicit. Something possibly in the pg-13 side. If you want to the link just go to my other stories Worthless or Enjoy Life and head to the author's page from there.


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